Alongside its rocket test building, Astra has been assembling a 250,000-square-foot manufacturing facility that Kemp says will be able to churn out hundreds of rockets a year. Astra CEO Chris Kemp joined Relativity Space … But the carbon fiber fairing cost $250,000, necessitating a different solution since the company wants to eventually get the total cost of its rocket down to less than $500,000. ALAMEDA, California — Rocket builder Astra wants to simplify the launch business, with the soon-to-be-public company on a quest to both cut manufacturing costs while dramatically increasing the number of launches to a daily rate. All those ventures are looking to compete with the small rocket leader Rocket Lab. Astra narrowly missed orbit on Rocket 3’s third test flight and the company’s fifth test launch overall. Buying the full capacity on a launch of an Astra rocket will cost about $2.5 million, the company says, less than the price of a dedicated flight on any other orbital-class rocket. Astra’s Rocket 3.1 left the Alaskan coast at Astra’s Kodiak launch site on September 12, 2020. Astra’s rocket factory is located on the old Alameda Naval Air Station outside of San Francisco. Ad astra — Astra finally launches its first orbital rocket, and it flew for 30 seconds “For us, what's expensive is not learning.” Eric Berger - Sep 14, 2020 12:22 pm UTC Astra’s rocket will be capable of carrying less cargo than Rocket Lab’s, although it will only charge $3 million per launch. How telecom pioneer Craig McCaw hitched up with Astra rocket venture in $2.1B deal by Alan Boyle on February 3, 2021 at 11:54 am February 3, 2021 at 12:15 pm Share 56 Tweet Share Reddit Email Astra chose to build its second fairing out of metal, which it got down to … Launch startup Astra had a monumental week, achieving their first spaceflight with a rocket test on Tuesday.