Rocket Lab has launched its second mission in just over a month on Sunday. The Electron rocket launched at 06:33 UTC with a host of CubeSats for NASA\u2019s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa) program.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The 19th such mission to deploy educational CubeSats into orbit was also be the first mission procured under NASA\u2019s Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) program. Rocket Lab, Virgin Orbit, and Firefly Aerospace were selected to provide dedicated smallsat launch vehicles to support the increasing role of CubeSats in NASA\u2019s research.<\/p>\n
The launch was the first flight under this program, carrying 13 satellites that will advance various research goals.<\/p>\n
The Electron rocket was named \u201cThis One\u2019s for Pickering,\u201d after Sir William Pickering, who was born in New Zealand, led the NASA team that developed the United States\u2019 first satellite Explorer 1, and became director of NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This flight was Rocket Lab\u2019s first mission for NASA.<\/p>\n
Electron carried Rocket Lab\u2019s Curie third stage, which was used to inject the 13 CubeSats into a 500 km circular orbit at an inclination of 85 degrees. Liftoff occurred from Rocket Lab\u2019s private Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
With daily launch windows from 04:00 to 08:00 UTC begin on December 13 UTC and continuing until December 21. The initial attempt was scrubbed due to poor weather. However, the Sunday attempt launched without issue at 06:33 UTC.<\/p>\n