Tag: Rocket Lab
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Rocket Lab’s low-cost Electron launcher puts satellites in orbit from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket rises from its launch pad on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab executed its second orbital mission today, sending six small satellites and an experimental drag sail into orbit from an oceanside launch pad in New Zealand. Liftoff of the Electron rocket came at 4:50 p.m. New…
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Rocket Lab to return in November – includes additional payloads
Rocket Lab has confirmed its return to launch action in November, with a realigned attempt to launch the “It’s Business Time” mission from its private orbital launch pad in New Zealand, Launch Complex-1 set for November 11. The scrubbed attempt in June required the replacement of motor controllers on the rocket. In announcing the new date,…
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Rocket Lab breaks ground on new Virginia launch pad
Officials from Rocket Lab, NASA, and the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority broke ground on a new launch pad at Wallops Island, Virginia, on Oct. 17. Credit: NASA/Wallops Rocket Lab broke ground on a new launch pad on Virginia’s Eastern Shore last week after selecting the Wallops Island location for the company’s first U.S.-based launch…
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Rocket Lab picks Virginia’s Wallops Island for U.S. launch site, adding to N.Z. pad
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck and other dignitaries pose with their shovels for a groundbreaking ceremony on Virginia’s Wallops Island. (Rocket Lab Photo via Twitter) Rocket Lab officially unveiled its plan to build a commercial launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Wallops Island, with liftoffs due to begin in a year. The…
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Rocket Lab selects Wallops as first U.S. launch site, readies Electron for November launch
U.S.-based company Rocket Lab has announced the selection of Wallops at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia as their first U.S. launch location to supplement capabilities from their New Zealand launch pad. The announcement comes roughly one month ahead of the company’s anticipated New Zealand launch of an Electron rocket named “It’s Business Time”, the…
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Spaceflight strikes deal with Rocket Lab for three satellite launch extravaganzas
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from its New Zealand launch pad in January. (Rocket Lab Photo via Spaceflight) Seattle-based Spaceflight has partnered with Rocket Lab for three launches over the next year, including one of the first launches for BlackSky’s Earth observation constellation. All three launches will send an assortment of small satellites into low…
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Last call for the Humanity Star satellite!
Rocket Lab’s Humanity Star satellite is heading for a fall. (TheHumanityStar.com) Humanity Star, we hardly knew ye. When Rocket Lab revealed in January that it sent a disco-ball satellite called “the Humanity Star” into orbit, as one of the payloads aboard its low-cost Electron rocket, the company said it could stay up shining in the…
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Rocket Lab manifests third flight, aims for expanded flight rate and launch sites
As Rocket Lab continues to put together their manifest for the first operational year of Electron’s service, the company is keeping their eye firmly fixed on the future – with options to expand launch operations to other launch sites while operating Electron in a “sweet spot” within the launch market and capitalizing on the company’s…
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Weeks after its launch, ‘Humanity Star’ satellite shines in West Coast skies at last
Rocket Lab’s map provides a sampling of the viewing opportunities for the Humanity Star satellite. (Humanity Star Graphic) It’s been a month and a half since Rocket Lab sent a sparkly satellite called Humanity Star into orbit, but we’re just now getting into prime time for seeing it from the western United States. Humanity Star…
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Rocket Lab to capitalize on test flight success with first operational mission
Rocket Lab is preparing for its first operational flight of their Electron rocket from its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The mission will capitalize on the highly successful test flight of Electron in January, which saw the unexpected and previously unannounced launch of the Humanity Star payload as well as the planned…