With orbital launch, Firefly takes an early lead in the 1-ton rocket race

Enlarge / Firefly Aerospace's Alpha rocket is seen on the pad ahead of the "To The Black" mission. (credit: Firefly)

Since SpaceX reached orbit for the first time in 2008 with the Falcon 1 rocket, a handful of other companies such as Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit have developed and successfully launched small, liquid-fueled rockets. But all of these boosters, including the Falcon 1, could lift, at most, a few hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit.

A newer generation of companies, however, has decided that their first rockets should be larger, capable of lifting about 1 metric ton, or a little bit more, to orbit. Officials with these companies have said that, in their view of the market, the micro-launchers just don't have enough lift capacity to meet the needs of today's satellite customers.

So these companies—such as Firefly Aerospace, Relativity Space, ABL Space Systems in the United States, and Isar Aerospace and Rocket Factory Augsburg in Europe—have pushed to develop a larger rocket as their first vehicle. And this weekend, the first of these companies, Firefly, reached orbit with its Alpha rocket.

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