Company's rocket appears to tumble out of control minutes after launch

Hoping to chalk up the company's second successful flight, California-based Astra fired off a 43-foot-tall rocket from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Thursday, but the vehicle's upper stage appeared to tumble out of control moments after engine ignition. The rocket's payload — four small NASA- and university-provided research satellites booked under a $3.9 million contract through the space agency's Venture Class Launch Services program — was lost in the mishap.

"Unfortunately, we heard that an issue has been experienced during flight that prevented the delivery of our customer payloads to orbit today," Astra Director of Product Management Carolina Grossman said at the end of a livestream of the launch. "We are deeply sorry to our customers, NASA, the University of Alabama, the University of New Mexico and the University of California, Berkeley. More information will be provided as we complete a data review."

In a statement, NASA said an "in-flight anomaly" prevented the satellites, known as CubeSats, from being delivered.