Nearly three weeks after the last flight of Rocket Lab\u2019s workhorse Electron rocket, the California-based company performed the most rapid turnaround between launches to date with the launch of Electron Flight 13. However, the rocket failed during second stage flight. The mission \u2013 which featured seven small satellites as the payload \u2013 launched from Rocket Lab\u2019s Launch Complex 1 Pad A at Mahia in New Zealand on Saturday, July 4 at 5:19 pm Eastern, 21:19 UTC (9:19 am NZT on Sunday, July 5).<\/p>\n
This mission was the third launch for Rocket Lab so far in 2020, and the latest attempt by the company to break the record for the fastest turnaround time between Electron launches. With launch \u2013 albeit unsuccessful \u2013 on Saturday, the amount of time elapsed from Electron Flight 12\u2019s launch on June 13 and Electron Flight 13 stood at approximately 20 days. (The previous launch turnaround record stood at 35 days between Electron Flights 3 and 4 in November and December 2018, respectively.)<\/p>\n
For this mission, Electron lifted off with a total of seven payloads that were to be sent to separate destinations in low Earth orbit, with six out of the seven serving as Earth observation satellites. Because of this, Rocket Lab has christened the mission with the nickname \u201cPics Or It Didn\u2019t Happen\u201d.<\/p>\n
Sadly, the mission failed during second stage flight.<\/p>\n