Australia now has a homegrown orbital launch attempt under its belt.
The company Gilmour Space notched that milestone today (July 29), sending its first Eris rocket skyward from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in coastal Queensland around 6:35 p.m. EDT (2235 GMT; 8:35 a.m. local Australian time).
Eris didn’t get very far. The rocket began sliding sideways shortly after rising off the pad, crashing back to Earth just 14 seconds after liftoff. It looked a lot like the third orbital launch attempt by the California company Astra, which featured a similar sideways slide off the pad in August 2021.
This outcome was far from unexpected; after all, it’s rare for a rocket to ace its first-ever liftoff. And Gilmour Space was not banking on full success today.
“Whether we make it off the pad, reach max Q, or get all the way to space, what’s important is that every second of flight will deliver valuable data that will improve our rocket’s reliability and performance for future launches,” the company said about the mission, which was known as Eris-1, in a February statement.
Gilmour Space sounded an optimistic note after the launch as well. “Today, Eris became the first #AustralianMade orbital rocket to launch from Australian soil — ~14s of flight, 23s engine burn. Big step for launch capability. Team safe, data in hand, eyes on TestFlight 2,” the company said this evening in an X post that shared two photos of the liftoff.
“Getting off the pad and into flight is a huge step forward for any new rocket program,” Gilmour Space CEO Adam Gilmour said in an emailed statement this evening. “This was the first real test of our rocket systems, our propulsion technology and our spaceport — and it proved that much of what we’ve built works.”
There were no injuries and no “adverse environmental impacts” as a result of the launch anomaly, company representatives said in the statement.
TestFlight1 — Liftoff 🚀Today, Eris became the first #AustralianMade orbital rocket to launch from Australian soil — ~14s of flight, 23s engine burn.Big step for 🇦🇺 launch capability. Team safe, data in hand, eyes on TestFlight 2.(More pics and vids to come from the media.) pic.twitter.com/l9yPSUAIbRJuly 30, 2025
Today’s launch was a long time time coming. Gilmour Space,…
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