Yup--the picture included in the update on Space.com (see: https://www.space.com/astra-darpa-l...ayed-again.html ) says it all--even had they launched, with that overcast, even the locals couldn't have seen it for very long (like many launches at Vandenberg AFB).

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NAR #54895 SR

Launch scheduled for 2:55 P.M. Central Time (about 14 minutes!)

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Hold at 53 seconds.

Dude keeps saying the launch window is open until 2:30 Local (Kodiak) time or 3:30 Eastern. Huh?

Alaska is 4 hours behind the East coast, not one.
Even if they are talking about California being local time, it's 3 hours difference.

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While we're on hold anybody know why Alaska was chosen as the site for the Spaceport?
Isn't a site near the equator more optimal (faster launch speed due to spinning faster at the equator than near the poles).
Also I would imagine there are a few more optimal sites weather wise than Alaska.

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I like the unusual, the off beat, the avant-garde. No 3/4 FNC for me!

He must have meant Pacific. AKST is one hour behind PST.

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I like the unusual, the off beat, the avant-garde. No 3/4 FNC for me!

Astra team still looking at the data. GNC saw data that was not nominal so a hold was called. After evaluation they will decide whether to reset and start the countdown within the three hour window or scrub for today.
I got a life so tally ho, pip pip and all that rot.

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I like the unusual, the off beat, the avant-garde. No 3/4 FNC for me!

That's what I thought, but he kept repeating it.


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The Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC), now called the Pacific Spaceport Complex - Alaska (PSCA: https://www.akaerospace.com/ ), was established as a dual-use (military and civilian) suborbital and orbital launch facility (much like the joint-use [military & civil] airports, such as in Charleston, South Carolina, and elsewhere, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint-use_airport ). Also:

PSCA's military launch traffic is mostly connected with ballistic missile defense, including joint R & D and test launches with Israel. Kodiak also isn't very far from the ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) complex at Fort Greely, Alaska (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Greely,_Alaska ). The PSCA missions log (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacif...E2%80%93_Alaska ) shows quite an eclectic mix of launch vehicles and payloads, and:

Some missions--such as the eight-satellite (including the NanoSail-D2 solar sail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NanoSail-D2 ) Minotaur IV launch on November 20, 2010 (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktvtNbK8eeM&t=71s )--were themselves combination military/civilian ones. PSCA was also established with commercial spaceflight in mind; polar orbits and Sun-synchronous orbits (slightly retrograde, near-polar ones) are popular for many commercial satellites, and both are easy to reach from PSCA. Plus:

A wide inclination range of retrograde (east-to-west) orbits is also accessible from PSCA. (Israel's Shavit and Shavit II launches https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavit of their Ofeq https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ofeq reconnaissance satellites must--in order to avoid dropping spent stages on populated areas--be to the west, over the Mediterranean Sea into retrograde orbits. These orbits [typically of ~141 degree - ~143 degree inclination to the equator], which are against the Earth's direction of rotation, provide more passes over desired target areas each day, and they cover ground more rapidly.) Other, commercial satellites--including ones launched from Kodiak--could also utilize such inclined retrograde orbits to cover more of the Earth's surface more quickly.

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
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http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

In his fact-filled video of six days ago ("Astra's Secret Rocket Project Finally Reveals Itself," see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUzDTV1JEWQ ), Scott Manley mentioned that the DARPA Launch Challenge website (see: https://www.darpalaunchchallenge.org/ ) has numerous videos of Astra Space's "Rocket 3.0" They certainly do, and they're quite interesting, and:

I wonder which model rocket company will produce a kit of Astra Space's "Rocket 3.0" (and perhaps also its two suborbital test predecessors)? :-) The way the rear section of the first stage was/is constructed on all three vehicles, an (optional, for realistic flame & smoke; the MRC FX Smoke motors would have really "shone" here) cluster of five 13 mm or 18 mm motors (depending on the scale chosen) should--using M. Dean Black's “Finless Rockets Using Engine-Driven Gas-Dynamic Stabilization” (see: http://www.apogeerockets.com/educat...wsletter379.pdf ) method, and with a larger "tractor" motor up inside the airframe--give the model(s) excellent stabilization and (unless such models were very heavy, a situation that could easily be avoided) even engine-out capability (perhaps curving over a bit with one failed-to-ignite cluster motor, but still reaching a safe parachute deployment altitude).

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Black Shire--Draft horse in human form, model rocketeer, occasional mystic, and writer, see:
http://www.lulu.com/content/paperba...an-form/8075185
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6122050
http://www.lulu.com/product/cd/what...of-2%29/6126511
All of my book proceeds go to the Northcote Heavy Horse Centre www.northcotehorses.com.
NAR #54895 SR

Astra failed to launch DARPA's payload within the prize window. The payload has been removed and returned. Astra still plans to launch its rocket, but right now has no payload for it. I don't know if they plan to stay in Alaska for launch or move it back to CA. They did mention they would have to apply for new licenses/permits and hope to get it in the air "in weeks, not months".

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