According to AFP, NASA’s first-ever launch from a commercial site outside of the United States took off from Australia’s Outback late on Sunday, marking an important milestone for the American space sector. The rocket, which carried equipment compared to a ‘small Hubble’ telescope, was launched from the Arnhem Space Centre in the first of three scheduled launches. It travelled around 350 kilometres (218 miles) into the night sky.
Before the launch, Michael Jones, CEO of Equatorial Launch Australia, told AFP that it was ‘a monumental time for us as a company in particular, but it’s historic for Australia.’
Jones, whose business owns and runs the launch facility in Australia’s far north, called it a ‘coming out’ party for the nation’s space industry and said the opportunity to cooperate with NASA was a significant development for the nation’s commercial space companies.
The suborbital sounding rocket launched into space to observe x-rays coming from the Alpha Centauri A and B systems after a series of delays caused by rain and wind. The rocket’s cargo was designed to gather information on the star systems once it reached apogee and then parachute back to Earth.
According to NASA, the launch offers a unique glimpse of the distant systems and unlocked fresh possibilities for scientists.
‘We’re excited to be able to launch important science missions from the Southern Hemisphere and see targets that we can’t from the United States,’ Nicky Fox, NASA’s Heliophysics Division director in Washington, said on announcing the mission.
Obtaining regulatory approval took years of labour, according to Jones, and rockets had to be transported to the launch site on barges. Darwin, in northern Australia, is about a 28-hour drive away.
‘I think for the team, it’s gonna be, you know, a huge relief that it’s done,’ he said.
It is the first NASA rocket to launch from Australia since 1995, and the project was hailed as the start of a ‘new era’ for the country’s space industry by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
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