Tag: New Zealand
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Live coverage: Rocket Lab launches BlackSky satellites from New Zealand
Live coverage of the countdown and launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from Launch Complex 1B on Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand with the two BlackSky commercial Earth-imaging satellites. Text updates will appear automatically below. Follow us on Twitter. Rocket Lab’s live video webcast begins approximately 20 minutes prior to launch, and will be available on this…
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Rocket Lab recovers booster again after launch with BlackSky satellites
An Electron rocket lifts off Friday with two BlackSky Earth-imaging satellites. Credit: Rocket Lab Two BlackSky optical Earth-imaging satellites rode an Electron launcher into orbit Friday from New Zealand, while the Electron’s first stage booster gently parachuted into the Pacific Ocean as engineers consider abandoning airborne rocket recovery in favor of ship-based retrieval and reuse.…
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Rocket Lab to attempt booster recovery on next mission
File photo of an Electron rocket launching on a previous mission. Credit: Rocket Lab / Andrew Burns / Simon Moffatt On its next mission set for liftoff later this month, Rocket Lab will try to recover the first stage of its Electron small satellite launcher after parachuting into the Pacific Ocean downrange from the company’s…
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Rocket Lab returns to service with successful launch for Capella
Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher lifts off from New Zealand at 11:05 p.m. EDT Sunday (0305 GMT Monday). Credit: Rocket Lab Flying for the first time since a failure in early July, Rocket Lab’s Electron launcher delivered Capella Space’s first commercial radar remote sensing satellite to orbit after lifting off from New Zealand Sunday. The successful…
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Amid shuffling schedules, Capella to fly its first commercial satellite with Rocket Lab
Artist’s concept of a Capella synthetic aperture radar satellite. Credit: Capella Space After switching rockets two times due to launch delays, Capella Space is set to launch the first spacecraft in a constellation of commercial radar reconnaissance satellites from New Zealand Sunday on a Rocket Lab Electron booster. The small radar satellite, named Sequoia, is…
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Rocket Lab’s 12th launch sends satellites into space for NRO, NASA and Australia
Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron rocket lofted a bevy of small satellites into orbit tonight for the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and a project backed by the Australian government and the University of New South Wales Canberra Space. Liftoff from Rocket Lab’s oceanside launch complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula came at 5:12 p.m. local time…
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Rocket Lab reports recovery test success
Aiming for reusability, Rocket Lab has demonstrated the mid-air recovery of a booster test article in a key test before rigging the first stage of the company’s Electron launcher with a parachute on missions beginning later this year. The company said the test in early March showed Rocket Lab’s concept of catching a descending Electron…
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Rocket Lab successfully launches NRO satellite
A Rocket Lab Electron launcher lifted off from the company’s privately-owned launch site in New Zealand at 9:56 p.m. EST Thursday (0256 GMT; 3:56 p.m. New Zealand time on Friday) with the NROL-151 payload for the U.S. government’s National Reconnaissance Office. Credit: Rocket Lab A light-class Electron launcher built and owned by Rocket Lab fired…
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Rocket Lab launches secret payload from New Zealand for U.S. spy satellite agency
After waiting out high winds, Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron rocket launched a top-secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from New Zealand, halfway around the world from the U.S. spy satellite agency’s headquarters. Liftoff for the “Birds of a Feather” mission took place at 6:56 p.m. PT today (3:56 p.m. local time Friday), nearly three…
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Rocket Lab begins construction of a second launch pad at its New Zealand complex
An artist’s conception shows Rocket Lab’s Pad 1-B at the upper corner of its Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab Illustration) Just days after officially opening its Virginia launch pad, Rocket Lab announced today that it has started construction of yet another pad at its original New Zealand home base. The new pad,…