We learn from each test to improve our designs and build a more reliable system. We will share more information on the path forward at a later date.(3/3)

The company is assessing the impact to its stage test stand, and no other facilities were impacted. Regular testing is part of Firefly’s philosophy – we test each critical component, engine, and vehicle stage to ensure it operates within our flight requirements before we ship to the launch pad.(2/3)

fireflyspace.com/missions/alp...

September 29, 2025 – During testing at Firefly’s facility in Briggs Texas, the first stage of Firefly’s Alpha Flight 7 rocket experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage. Proper safety protocols were followed, and all personnel are safe. (1/3)

Credit Firefly's X: During testing at Firefly’s facility in Briggs Texas, the first stage of Firefly’s Alpha Flight 7 rocket experienced an event that resulted in a loss of the stage. Read more here: t.co/bCuGqJIGfG

Where can the public find these grants? I'd love to look through them. I don't doubt that they've received grants, but USAspending.gov shows 0 federal grants for Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

You realize that the vast majority of money received from the govt is for contracts, right? SpaceX provides a service. They aren't just giving them free money. Even Starship contracts are fixed cost and milestone based. They are get paid when milestone are met. Everything else is out of pocket.

Falcon 9 disagrees. Musk might be a shitty person but his company developed and operates the most successful US rocket in history. It is the gold standard that all rockets are compared to. A shit company doesn't do that.

Viasat would be the only chance for that. All other Atlas V launches are either Kuiper or Starliner.

Just shedding weight. Didn't need that nozzle anyway

Yep. The X-37 missions either land at Vandenberg or Kennedy. I'd love to see k e at Kennedy but they're secretive missions. They don't typically announce where/when it'll land ahead of time.

Canon 550d with a 500mm Opteka F/8 lens

I don't know that they do. This launched from Kennedy in Florida. There's definitely places to watch Vandenberg launches from off-base but not sure if there's anything on it.

(3/?) The gov't could easily raise taxes on the upper class, close tax loopholes, etc. to fund those other programs. Realistically, even if this contract and others like it were cancelled, it still wouldn't go towards those programs.

(2/?) DOD satellites include GPS, weather monitoring, and communications. All of these (GPS especially) help life on earth. 7000 of those active sats are Starlink and, importantly, not all satellites do the same thing. GPS sats don't track weather, comm sats don't provide GPS, etc.

(1/?) $5.6b is the max total spending for this contract thru 2029. The contract can include as many launches as $5.6b will afford. The $5m is a one time payment for each company. The $5.6b is shared between both companies. This is a minuscule ~0.08% of the US budget.

Indefinite delivery/quantity just means that there aren't a set number of launches. For now, each company is basically paid a $5m retainer which will help them further develop their rockets

They're launch providers. Rocket Lab is second to only SpaceX in number of US launches/year. Stoke Space is developing a fully reusable rocket. That contract allows the DOD to order launches from them until 2029. The total value of all of those launches between both companies maxes at $5.6billion

FYI Space Force is not NASA. Doesnt take away from your point tho. It's totally normal to hand out contracts for vehicles that are not flying yet.

The contracts handed out to SpaceX (and ULA/Blue Origin) were DOD contracts, not NASA. Unrelated to the NASA science budget.