Eagle 1, Orion Technologies’s first launch vehicle completed its first mission yesterday, marking a historic milestone for the company.
At T-3:00, the Launch Director conducted a poll for launch readiness. One minute later, at T-2:00, the Launch Director verified GO for launch. At T-1:00, Eagle 1 began startup. At exactly 8:35 UTC, Eagle 1 lifted off DSC Pad A into a clear, blue sky. 7/7 Phantom Engines burned bright. The vehicle ascended nominally. Phantom Engine No. 5’s chamber pressure was noted to be a little low. At roughly T+2:20, MECO occurred. All seven engines shut down, and the second stage separated from the first stage. Seconds later, the most important part of the mission, SES-1, occurred. Orion Technologies had focused on the second stage’s engine the most. The booster rotated away as the upper stage continued its burn, eventually passing the Karmen Line, and becoming the first piece of Orion Technologies’s hardware to reach space. Fairing separation occurred flawlessly seconds after this event. The upper stage engine cut off on schedule at T-6:46. Successful Orbit Insertion was confirmed just moments later. Eagle 1 Mission One was declared a success. Mission Control erupted in cheers. What so many others had failed to do, Orion Technologies had succeeded.
The booster began its controlled decent and atmospheric entry. The drogue chutes deployed, stabilizing the vehicle. Some 50 seconds later, the mains deployed. The booster descended nominally into the ocean. A successful splashdown was confirmed when telemetry ceased. Booster LOS was declared, though it had been stationary prior to LOS. A quick pour over the data revealed that the booster exploded seconds after splashing down, likely due to the fuel line rupturing after landing, igniting residual fuel in the tanks. Orion Technologies still declared the landing successful, just not the recovery.
After the second stage completed its burn and flawlessly placed the payload into orbit, the experiments onboard began. These included, a carbon-fiber radiation experiment, RCS thruster firing, solar array tests, data downlink tests, and finally, a short burn of a new Methalox engine in space, one meant to be the landing engine on Eagle 5’s second stage. All tests were successful. After verifying that the second stage was preforming nominally after 32 hours in orbit, it began its de-orbit burn. This was successful, and proved that the engine could be restarted in space. The stage began atmospheric entry 72 minutes later, and telemetry was lost at 43km ASL. The stage likely broke up 30 seconds later, at around 30km. This concluded Eagle 1 Mission One. Orion Technologies congratulated everyone who worked on this program. Later today, Orion Technologies will submit a overview for Eagle 5, explaining where the o pant plans to move next. Eagle 1 will play a crucial role in this.


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