Mike Hecker’s weekly mountain bike ride had a different level of excitement Thursday— rocket debris raining down on a trail near Orcutt Hill.
“I looked to the right toward Vandenberg, and all of a sudden I see a big thing in the sky floating down,” he said. “it looked like a Volkswagen.”
More than 2 minutes after lifting off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 6:59 p.m., Firefly Aerospace‘s Alpha rocket launch ended in failure over the Pacific Ocean, sending pieces of debris raining back to Earth.
Late Thursday night, Vandenberg officials said debris from the terminated Alpha rocket may have landed in local communities, prompting warnings from Vandenberg representatives urging calls to a hotline.
“A team of investigators has determined that any debris from the rocket should be considered unsafe,” Vandenberg officials said.
“All recreational facilities, including beaches on-base that were closed for the launch, will remain closed until further notice due to the ongoing investigation.”
Anyone who sees rocket debris or possible debris should stay at least 50 feet away and report any findings to the Firefly Aerospace Inc. hotline at 805.605.2734, Vandenberg officials said.
As pieces of different sizes rained down on Orcutt Hill trail, Hecker ducked under a tree as a safety precaution.
“It wasn’t all in one big cluster,” Hecker said Friday “It was spread out over thousands and thousands of feet.”
“It wasn’t smoking. It wasn’t glowing,” he said, describing it as appearing to be black carbon fiber material.
The time stamp on his photos is roughly 30 minutes after launch and he knew it was related to the launch.
“It was surreal,” said Hecker, whose social media post included the hashtags “wearyourhelmet” and “watchyourhead.”
The Solvang resident took a piece, roughly 12 inches by 12 inches, with him and called the hotline but had not heard back from anyone by mid-day.
Online video at NASASpaceflight.com, an independent news site not affiliated with the space agency, and pictures from other photographers show the rocket tumbling before exploding. Vandenberg safety crews issued a self-destruct command to terminate the out-of-control flight.
Vandenberg officials remained mum on Friday and referred questions to Firefly and the Federal Aviation Administration, which said an investigation has started into the mishap and reports debris landed off base.
“An anomaly was experienced in flight resulting in loss of the Alpha vehicle,” the FAA said in a written statement. “At this time there have been no reported injuries or damage to public property.
“The FAA is aware of reports regarding possible debris from the mishap, and is working with Firefly to determine debris location and type.”
Standing some 95 feet tall, Alpha is among the smaller rockets that launch from Vandenberg.
In comparison, the upcoming United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket set for liftoff later this month stands some 194 feet tall, while Space Exploration Technologies’ Falcon rocket’s height hovers at approximately 200 feet.
For seven years, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace has worked to develop an affordable family of rockets for carrying small satellites into space, prepping for the inaugural launch.
The booster shell employs an advanced carbon-fiber composite for Alpha’s structure, including the state-of-the-art, linerless, cryogenic propellant tanks.
The company contended composite materials were best suited to launch vehicle structures in part due to their high strength and low density, letting Alpha lift heavier payloads than a similar metal rocket.
It’s not clear if this carbon-fiber composite structure led to debris apparently landing off base.
The reason for the launch failure remained under investigation on Friday.
“While it’s too early to draw conclusions as to the root cause, we will be diligent in our investigation, in partnership with the FAA and Vandenberg Space Force Base. We will utilize the data we obtained from the test flight and apply it to future missions,” Firefly representatives said in a written statement.
“Our engineers are currently combing through thousands of lines of ground and flight system telemetry to better understand what occurred.”
Although the mission didn’t end as planned, Firefly said the rocket achieved a number of milestones.
These include successful first-stage ignition, liftoff and progression to supersonic speed.
The company also received “a substantial amount of flight data” that engineers will analyze in the coming months.
Before the Alpha rocket launch, Firefly representatives said the team was working on Alpha Flight 2 and 3 launch vehicles, and expected the second liftoff shortly after the first launch.
The mishap will affect those plans as the company looks to determine what went wrong and how to fix any flaws.
Firefly also will need the FAA’s permission to try to launch again, which is standard procedure for a mishap investigation.
“Firefly may not return the Alpha vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said in a written statement.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.