Texas-based Firefly Aerospace aims to launch its first Dnipro-designed and built Alpha rocket next year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California,

Texas-based Firefly Aerospace aims to launch its first Dnipro-designed and built Alpha rocket next year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, Nolan Peterson reports in The Daily Signal. With 10 letters of intent to buy its rockets, Firefly plans to launch its Alpha and Beta rockets twice a month by 2021. Alpha is a liquid oxygen-fueled rocket, designed to deliver a payload of up to 2,205 pounds to low-earth orbit, or 1,320 pounds to a higher, sun-synchronous orbit. Firefly owner Max Polyakov, a Ukraine native, says his market niche is “economical, high-performance space launch capability for the underserved small satellite market, where secondary-payload launches are often the only option.” In coming months, Firefly hopes to become the first foreign company to win a Technical Assistance Agreement from Washington. This would allow transfer missile technology between the Texas headquarters and designers in Dnipro.