Stage 1 landing confirmed!

M-vac shutdown.

MECO, stage separation, M-vac ignition, and fairing separation.

Liftoff!

Achievement get!

I quite enjoy this 10-minute tool-assisted speedrun of that acheivement.

Orbit catalogued by Jonathan McDowell: https://bsky.app/profile/planet4589.bsky.social/post/3mgutwavs3s2i

The Firefly Alpha launch appears to have been fully successful. The LM-400 test satellite is being tracked in a 401 x 405 km x 123.0 deg orbit, and the Alpha second stage made a perigee lowering burn at about 0140 UTC to 231 x 423 km x 123.1 deg.

2026-03-12:

• Pad 2 and B19: No testing on Mar 12th.
• ViX posts videos of Mar 11th testing. (ViX 1, ViX 2)
• Mar 12th and 13th road closures stay posted for a while, but are eventually removed. (ViX, starbase.texas.gov, archive)
• The chopsticks close around B19 and the transport stand moves back towards the pad. (ViX, ViX, Sorensen, efraser77 1, efraser77 2, Killip)
• Build site: Overnight, B20’s methane landing tank and lower transfer tube are from Starfactory to Megabay, followed by the refurbished top of test tank B18.3, and then B20’s A6:4 section. (ViX)
• McGregor: R3.128 (new highest) is observed. (Rhin0)
• Florida: Gigabay construction continues. (Bergeron)

were that many people using 3D-plastic printing, back in 2019

3D printing was already pretty common in 2019. I had a small hobby printer by then.

But I’m not entirely convinced that the above tray is 3D printed. I can’t see any obvious artifacts such as layer lines or the tool path of the top layer. It is quite a large object, and would likely need to be printed in multiple parts, or on a specialized printer. Additionally, untreated 3D prints are generally not recommended for items which will repeatedly contact food, as the rough surface is difficult to fully clean.

This presentation is exceptionally visually pleasing. It’s like an Indian bento.

That’s just the 90:9:1 rule, no?

Thanks for your comment! Mod who made the decision here.

The reasoning behind the decision was more or less as follows:

• The user had no previous history of contributions (posts or comments) to the community
• No part of the user’s comment indicated that they had read the article they were commenting on
• It seemed as though their comment was simply an emotional response to the article title containing the phrase “Falcon 9”
• Other users who have left comments of similar tone in the past tend not to be valuable contributors to communities

And yeah, by this point, everyone knows “Elon bad”. But stating the obvious doesn’t contribute anything useful to spaceflight discussion.

2026-03-11:

• Build site: S40 has had an aft flap installed. (Avid Space)
• Mar 9th/10th addendum: The first cladding panel support frames were installed on the road-facing side of Gigabay. (ViX)
• Pad 2 and B19 testing: NSF full livestream.
• Ground support equipment bunker doors are closed, pad is cleared. (ViX)
• Partial road closure. (ViX)
• B19’s engines are purged individually, then simultaneously. (ViX, Avid Space, NSF 1, NSF 2)
• Crew lift departs the launch site, road is fully closed. (ViX, Avid Space, NSF)
• Tank farm venting. (TrackingTheSB, ViX, rocketjunkie94)
• Road closure is extended to 23:00. (ViX)
• Propellant loading begins. (Avid Space, TrackingTheSB)
• Grid fins are tested. (TrackingTheSB)
• Methane loading begins. (Avid Space, NSF)
• Possible spin prime. (NSF 1, NSF 2)
• Detanking. (Avid Space, TrackingTheSB)
• Road is opened. (rocketjunkie94)
• Beach closure are still listed for Mar 12th and 13th, from 08:00 to 20:00. (starbase.texas.gov, archive)
• Brownsville Port: SpaceX seek to acquire a 50-year lease on an 83-acre plot on the south side of the Port of Brownsville for constructing a heavy duty dock. The dock would reduce the duration of Highway 4 closure during a vehicle transport to the port. (Anderson 1, Port of Brownsville, Anderson 2 (diagram), Anderson 3)
• McGregor: R3.124 (new highest) is observed. (Rhin0)

https://bsky.app/profile/rykllan.bsky.social/post/3mgqzamnse22i

#Falcon9 fairing halves of #Starlink 17-18

https://bsky.app/profile/rykllan.bsky.social/post/3mgp4yap64c2s

#Falcon9 fairing halves of #Starlink 10-40

SECO and nominal orbit insertion confirmed!

Stage separation and stage 2 ignition!

Edit: And fairing jettison.

Liftoff!

NSF are live for today’s launch attempt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4UXqDhfEbw

https://x.com/FireflySpace/status/2031803538020425847

The Alpha Flight 7 team is moving forward with another launch attempt tonight after running additional tests on our fluid systems. The two-hour launch window for this test flight opens at 5:50 pm PT and our livestream with @NASASpaceflight will begin 20 minutes before liftoff.

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Yay, thank you!

Also, British indeed.