Tag: Electron rocket
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Rocket Lab launches four satellites for BlackSky, UnseenLabs and U.S. Air Force
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off from its launch pad in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a foursome of satellites into orbit today for a threesome of customers, including the Seattle-based BlackSky Earth-watching venture. BlackSky’s sibling subsidiary, Spaceflight, handled the prelaunch logistics for the Global-4 satellite and for a pair of…
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Rocket Lab will try helicopter recovery of rocket booster – and CEO will eat his hat
An artist’s conception shows a future Electron rocket making a re-entry after launch. (Rocket Lab Illustration) Taking a page from SpaceX’s playbook, Rocket Lab’s CEO says the company will try to recover the first-stage booster of its Electron rocket to save time and money. “Electron is going reusable,” CEO Peter Beck announced today at the…
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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket launches 3 U.S. military satellites from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle lifts off from its New Zealand pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab sent a trio of research satellites for the U.S. military into orbit tonight from a launch pad that’s thousands of miles from America’s shores, in New Zealand. The Los Angeles-based company’s low-cost Electron rocket lifted off from…
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Rocket Lab launches DARPA’s R3D2 experimental satellite from New Zealand
Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle rises from its New Zealand launch pad. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab executed its first launch of the year from New Zealand today, sending an experimental satellite into orbit for the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The company’s Electron launch vehicle lifted off from Launch Complex 1 on…
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Rocket Lab sends 13 miniature satellites into orbit from New Zealand for NASA
Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket lifts off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. (Rocket Lab via YouTube) Rocket Lab has sent its first payloads for NASA into orbit from its New Zealand launch pad, atop a low-cost Electron rocket powered by 3-D-printed engines. Liftoff from Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula came at…
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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 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 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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Spaceflight buys Rocket Lab Electron launch for a small satellite sampler
Seattle-based Spaceflight says it’s struck a deal to buy the full capacity of a single Electron rocket launch from L.A.-based Rocket Lab, so it can send other ventures’ small satellites into orbit at cut-rate prices. The dedicated-rideshare mission follows the model that Spaceflight set with SpaceX for a Falcon 9 launch, now expected to go up…