Rocket Report: Era of cheap launch is over? Astra sets early 2027 target for return

Astra targeting “early” 2027 for return to flight. In a lengthy interview with The Debrief, Astra chief executive Chris Kemp said the company is targeting early 2027 for the launch of the Rocket 4.0 vehicle. The rocket, 18.9 meters tall, aims to eventually deliver up to 1 metric ton to low-Earth orbit. Kemp said Astra is aiming to make hundreds of rockets per year. New rocket, same Kemp … “We chose not to do what a lot of other companies are doing,” Kemp said. “We’re not making a reusable rocket. We’re not making a very expensive engine cycle where the engines are very, very expensive. We’re trying to build a soda can.” And how good will Rocket 4.0 be? “I think this is going to be the most reliable, most affordable rocket ever produced in the history of the world,” Kemp said. Era of cheap launch is over? Several rocket company CEOs, speaking at World Space Business Week in Paris, made some interesting comments in the wake of SpaceX planning to wind down its Falcon 9 program. Most striking were those from Firefly Aerospace Vice President of Strategy Michael Creech. “The customer got comfortable with a high reliability and a low price, that frankly did not support the launch market,” Creech said during a panel discussion, Via Satellite reports. A new normal … Creech said the industry will “reset” over the next six months to two years. “You’re seeing launchers move away to developing solutions with better revenue. This tells you this subsidized cost-per-kilo model wasn’t supporting launch companies, which led to the current-day crisis of a supply shortage,” he added. “Hopefully the new normal will be a growth environment for launch technologies and not another race to the bottom on price.” Although there is a crunch in launch now, there are enough emerging providers that Ars believes price will definitely be a major factor in launch choice in the coming years. Beijing-based Chinese startup raises big money. Space Epoch finalized a B++ financing round, bringing its total Series B capital raised over the past six months to more than 2.3 billion yuan ($343 million), Satnews reports. The funding will directly support the qualification and assembly of Space Epoch’s flagship launch vehicle, the medium-lift Yuanxingzhe-1 rocket. An impressive start … Yuanxingzhe-1 is rated to deliver up to 13.8 metric tons of payload into low Earth orbit in a fully expendable configuration, while supporting propulsive vertical landing recovery operations for the first-stage booster. In May 2025, the company successfully completed a vertical landing during a suborbital test at sea with the Yuanxingzhe-1 vehicle. An orbital test flight of the rocket could come before the end of this year.