Astra Fails to Launch NASA's TROPICS-1 Mission

Launch of TROPICS-1 | Credit: NASASpaceflight

On Sunday, June 12 at 1:43pm EDT (18:43 UTC), Astra launched the TROPICS-1 mission with two of NASA's TROPICS hurricane-observing satellites atop a Rocket 3.3 rocket (LV0010) from Space Launch Complex 46 (SLC-46) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The upper stage of LV0010 shut down too early, resolving in the loss of the vehicle and payloads. Astra is contracted to launch two more TROPICS missions for NASA this Summer, but this will likely be delayed due to the investigation of this flight. This was the 64th orbital launch attempt of 2022 and the 7th launch of Rocket 3.