The test flight took place on June 28, 2014, with the test vehicle launching from the United States Navy's
Pacific Missile Range Facility on
Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi, at 18:45 UTC (08:45 local). A high-altitude helium balloon, which when fully inflated has a volume of , lifted the vehicle to . The vehicle detached at 21:05 UTC (11:05 local), and four small, solid-fuel rocket motors spun up the vehicle to provide stability. A half second after spin-up, the vehicle's
Star 48B solid-fuel motor ignited, powering the vehicle to
Mach 4.32 and a peak altitude of . Immediately after rocket burn-out, four more rocket motors despun the vehicle. Upon slowing to Mach 4.08, the tube-shaped Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (SIAD-R configuration) deployed. SIAD is intended to increase atmospheric drag on the vehicle by increasing the surface area of its leading side, thus increasing the rate of deceleration. Upon slowing to Mach 2.54 (around 86 seconds after SIAD deployment), the Supersonic Disksail (SSDS) parachute was deployed to slow the vehicle further. This parachute measures in diameter, twice the area of the one used for the
Mars Science Laboratory mission. However, it began tearing apart after deployment, and the vehicle impacted the Pacific Ocean at 21:35 UTC (11:35 local) travelling . All hardware and
data recorders were recovered. Despite the parachute incident, the mission was declared a success; the primary goal was proving the flight worthiness of the test vehicle, while SIAD and SSDS were secondary experiments. ==2015 test flights==