The company is now working to determine the next available launch window for Alpha Flight 7.
Firefly Aerospace (FLY) stock gained 4.5% in extended trading on Tuesday after the company said it had received approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to resume Alpha rocket launches after a mishap in April.
The sixth of its Alpha missions took off with a Lockheed Martin satellite on April 29 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, but a technical error mid-flight caused the satellite to fall into the Pacific Ocean.
The company said in a regulatory filing that it conducted a thorough investigation with the FAA and simultaneously assembled an independent review board of multiple government agencies, customers, and industry experts following the incident.
“The findings confirmed Firefly’s flight safety system performed nominally through all phases of flight. Both Alpha stages landed safely in the Pacific Ocean, and the launch posed no risk to public safety,” the company noted.
Retail sentiment on Stocktwits about Firefly Aerospace was still in the ‘bearish’ territory at the time of writing.
The Texas-based firm stated that the vehicle ascended normally before experiencing a rupture, which occurred milliseconds after stage separation had occurred.
“The vehicle was three seconds short of achieving orbital velocity and five seconds short of the target payload deployment orbit,” the company said before adding that it has already implemented corrective actions and is now working to determine the next available launch window for Alpha Flight 7.
Since 2021, four out of six Alpha launches have been unsuccessful, including the incident in April. The stakes are high for the firm as it has signed an agreement with Lockheed for 25 flights through 2029, with the April launch being the first of those.
Firefly stock closed marginally higher than its initial public offering price of $45 on Tuesday. However, the stock had surged over 55% in its trading debut earlier in August amid optimism over space firms.
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