Tag: Rocket Lab
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Rocket Lab’s test launch carried two previously-unannounced passengers
Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck poses with the Humanity Star satellite. Credit: Rocket Lab A propulsive kick stage designed to expand the performance envelope of Rocket Lab’s light-class Electron satellite launcher and a spacecraft that will grace nighttime skies for the next nine months flew into orbit on the company’s test flight earlier…
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Rocket Lab unveils ‘Humanity Star’ – a shiny satellite you can see in space
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck shows off the Humanity Star satellite before launch. (Rocket Lab Photo) In addition to launching three Earth-watching satellites, Rocket Lab has sent up a satellite you can watch from Earth: a bright and shiny object christened Humanity Star. Rocket Lab says Humanity Star, a geodesic sphere made of carbon fiber…
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Rocket Lab successfully conducts second Electron launch
Rocket Lab has returned to action with the second launch of its Electron rocket from the Māhia Peninsula from the North Island of New Zealand’s eastern coast. Several attempts to launch at the end of last year were scrubbed before regrouping for a new attempt – which was also scrubbed, due to a wayward boat,…
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Rocket Lab sends Electron rocket into orbit, marking milestone for moon mission
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from its launch pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab’s two-stage Electron rocket successfully reached Earth orbit and deployed satellites for the first time today, raising hopes for far more ambitious missions to the moon. Today’s mission, which went up from Rocket Lab’s launch complex on…
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Rocket Lab celebrates coming oh so close to orbit with its maiden Electron launch
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck cheers the first Electron rocket launch. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab didn’t quite make it to orbit on its first try, but the company’s CEO says he’s “very happy” with the Electron rocket’s performance nevertheless. “We got a lot further than certainly we expected,” founder and CEO Peter Beck…
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Maiden flight of Rocket Lab’s small satellite launcher reaches space
Video credit: Rocket Lab The debut launch of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket from a privately-operated base in New Zealand made it to space Thursday, proving the performance of major parts of the booster before faltering short of the velocity it needed to enter orbit, the company said in a statement. The U.S.-New Zealand company said…
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Videos: Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off for first time
Rocket Lab’s Electron commercial satellite launcher lifted off from New Zealand on its debut test flight Thursday and soared into space on its maiden mission. The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) launcher did not reach orbit as intended, but Rocket Lab said the Electron successfully flew through the booster’s first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and…
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Rocket Lab waits for improved weather for test flight of new commercial launcher
The Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Worsening weather at Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch facility forced officials to call off the liftoff of a new commercial satellite booster for the third straight day Tuesday. “Launch scrubbed for the day due to triboelectrification,” Rocket Lab tweeted Tuesday evening,…
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Rocket Lab puts its first low-cost Electron launch vehicle in space from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket rises from its New Zealand launch pad. (Rocket Lab via Twitter) Rocket Lab says its first Electron rocket “made it to space” after a test launch from a New Zealand pad, marking a big step toward its goal of putting payloads into orbit for $5 million. Liftoff came at 4:20 p.m. Thursday…
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Rocket Lab delays debut of new launcher to dodge bad weather
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket horizontal at Launch Complex 1 on Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand. Credit: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab, a company eyeing a market to launch small satellites, said Monday that bad weather at its privately-operated launch base on New Zealand’s North Island kept a commercial Electron booster from lifting off on its maiden test…