Tag: Electron
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Rocket Lab launches “It Argos Up From Here” mission
Rocket Lab has launched its 31st Electron rocket on the “It Argos Up From Here” mission from Rocket Lab’s private Launch Complex 1B (LC-1B), on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. Liftoff occurred on Saturday, Oct. 8 at 6:09 AM NZT (17:09 UTC on Oct. 7). This launch marks Rocket Lab’s eighth launch of 2022…
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Rocket Lab launches “The Owl Spreads Its Wings” mission
Rocket Lab has made the company and the Electron rocket’s 30th flight. “The Owl Spreads Its Wings,” the company’s third dedicated flight for Japanese company Synspective, launched to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) on Thursday, Sept. 15, lifting off at 20:38 UTC. “The Owl Spreads Its Wings” saw Electron launch its 150th satellite since the rocket’s first…
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Rocket Lab & NASA launch CAPSTONE to the Moon
Rocket Lab has launched the CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) satellite to the Moon. It’s the first official mission of NASA’s Artemis program that is seeking to permanently return humans to the surface of our nearest astronomical body. Launching onboard the Electron rocket, liftoff occurred at 5:55 AM EDT (09:55…
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Rocket Lab makes first booster catch attempt during successful There And Back Again mission
After announcing plans to recover and reuse the first stage of the company’s Electron rocket back in 2019, the California-based rocket company has attempted a mid-air recovery for the very first time. After a successful mid-air catch, the recovery helicopter pilot noticed different load characteristics than expected, and released the stage so it could softly…
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Rocket Lab’s Electron launches two BlackSky satellites on 25th mission
Rocket Lab has launched two satellites for BlackSky on the 25th flight of its Electron rocket. The mission lifted off from Launch Complex-1A (LC-1A) at Rocket Lab’s launch site on the Mahia peninsula in New Zealand at 12:41 UTC on Saturday (1:41 AM local time on Saturday). California-based Rocket Lab has begun a tradition of…
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Rocket Lab’s The Owl’s Night Continues makes first launch from LC-1B at Mahia
Rocket Lab has conducted its first launch from the second launch pad at its spaceport in Mahia, New Zealand on Tuesday, in the second of four planned missions for the Japanese earth observation company Synspective. Tuesday’s mission, The Owl’s Night Continues, is a follow-on to the December 2020 launch named The Owl’s Night Begins, which…
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Rocket Lab launches another pair of BlackSky satellites
Rocket Lab has conducted its final orbital launch of the year, “A Data With Destiny.” Liftoff of the Electron rocket occurred at the beginning of the launch window that opened at 7:02 PM EST on December 8, 2021 (00:02 UTC on December 9) from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula in New…
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Rocket Lab returns to action with dual satellite launch and successful booster splashdown
Following a hiatus of several months, Rocket Lab returned to launch operations with its 22nd overall mission on Thursday. An Electron rocket lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand at 01:38 UTC (14:38 local time) on November 18, following delays to evaluate an out-of-family ground sensor and wait for cooperative…
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Inside Varda Space’s plans to revolutionize in-space manufacturing
The idea of manufacturing commodities in space is not a novel concept. The International Space Station — humanity’s hub for research and development in microgravity — has hosted several research payloads which have produced optic fibers and even 3D printed stem cells. These may have the potential of printing entire human organs in space, saving…
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NASA, Rocket Lab move first Artemis Moon launch – CAPSTONE – to New Zealand
New Zealand is now set to host the first launch of the Artemis Program, as Rocket Lab is now planning to launch the CAPSTONE mission from their operational launch pad at Launch Complex 1 on the Māhia Peninsula. This is the first lunar mission for Rocket Lab, currently scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter…