The mission of sending small NASA satellites into orbit to monitor the weather conditions of the rocket company Astra Space was unsuccessful because the second-stage engine was shut down earlier in space.
According to Reuters, the engine shut down about 10 minutes after the successful launch of the Astra 3.3 rocket from the launch pad in Florida.
– We had a nominal flight in the first phase. However, the upper stage engine shut down early and we did not deliver our cargo into orbit – said Astra representative Amanda Durk Frye.
The rocket carried two small satellites designed by MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory with the task of measuring humidity and precipitation in tropical storm systems. These were the first of six NASA satellites that Astra plans to launch in the future.
