🚀 Launch and learn
Gilmour Space Technologies’ debut rocket may have crashed 14 seconds after launch. But getting off the ground at all marks a historic breakthrough for Australia’s sovereign space ambitions.
“Well, this morning was a highlight of my career! To see the team get to launch and the rocket get flight time was just amazing,” said Rick Baker, partner at Blackbird Ventures, capturing the excitement felt across Australia’s space community as Gilmour Space Technologies achieved a historic milestone.
This morning in North Queensland, Australia witnessed something that hadn’t happened in more than 50 years — a locally designed and built rocket lifting off from Australian soil with orbital ambitions.
The 25-metre Eris rocket may have crashed just 14 seconds after clearing the launchpad at Bowen Orbital Spaceport, but for founder and CEO Adam Gilmour and his team of more than 200 people, it represented a pure success.
"Yeah, we're really happy about it because, you know, there was a test flight. We needed to get off the pad. And we did get off the pad," Gilmour told Capital Brief immediately after the launch, his satisfaction evident despite the brief flight duration.
