Astra is a launch vehicle company based in Alameda, California. Astra was incorporated in October 2016 by Chris Kemp and Adam London. Two suborbital test flights were conducted in 2018 from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska : one on 20 July 2018, and one on 29 November 2018. Both were believed to be launch failures. However, Astra stated that both were successful and the second one was "shorter than planned". Astra spent 2019 designing and building Rocket 3.0 integrating propulsion systems, avionics, and other pressurization/plumbing components into a high-performance electric pump-fed orbital launch vehicle. From 2018 to 2020, Astra was a contender in the DARPA Launch Challenge; first, as one of three teams, although at this point Astra kept its involvement secret and was only referred to as "stealth startup" by the Challenge organizers, then as the other two teams dropped out, as the only team left in the competition. The competition involved launching two small satellite payloads into orbit from two different launch sites in the U.S. with very little time between launches. Astra attempted to perform a launch for the Challenge late February – early March 2020 from PSCA, but had to scrub the launch attempts and in the end, did not launch a rocket for the Challenge. With the competition's only remaining team being unable to launch a rocket within the set time frame, DARPA announced the DARPA Launch Challenge closed on 2 March 2020 with no winner. The prize of $12 million went unclaimed. In June 2020, the Department of Defense announced that it planned to award Astra two commercial rideshare satellite launch contracts using funding provided through the CARES Act.
Rocket 3
The Rocket 3 is a class of orbital launch vehicles that have a payload capacity of to a sun-synchronous orbit. It consists of two stages. The first stage has 5 engines called "Delphin".
Rocket 3.0
The first Rocket 3, "1 of 3" or "Rocket 3.0", completed a static fire test at Castle Airport, California. It was planned to launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska with attempted launches in late February and early March of 2020, with the last launch attempt on 2 March 2020, as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge. Three CubeSats for the U.S. Department of Defense and the University of South Florida, along with a space-based beacon designed to aid in space traffic management, were slated to ride into orbit on "1 of 3". On 2 March 2020, DARPA and Astra officials said the Prometheus CubeSat, the University of South Florida's two Articulated Reconnaissance and Communications Expedition nanosatellites, and the space-based radio beacon payload were to be removed from the rocket after the end of the Launch Challenge. Astra had failed to launch within the DARPA Launch Challenge's launch window; launch preparations continued regardless for the test flight. On 23 March 2020, "1 of 3" was destroyed by fire during launch preparations. The incident at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island occurred while Astra was detanking fuel during a pre-launch countdown dress rehearsal. A valve on Rocket 3.0 remained open. This incident was first reported by KMXT, a local public radio station. Kemp confirmed no payloads were on-board Astra's rocket at the time of the incident.
Rocket 3.1
A second launch attempt is planned for no earlier than 3 August 2020 at 02:00 UTC using the second Rocket 3 vehicle, Rocket 3.1.
