THE LAUNCH PAD
NETWORK
In a remarkable display of the increasing tempo of commercial spaceflight, Rocket Lab and SpaceX launched missions from opposite sides of the globe within mere minutes of each other.
Rocket Lab has successfully launched the fifth synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite for Japanese company Synspective. The Electron rocket, carrying the StriX spacecraft, lifted off from Pad B at Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 at 9:39 a.m. Eastern time.
RocketLab's 41st Electron mission "We Will Never Desert You" has ended in a launch failure due the failure of the 2nd stage.
Rocket Lab has successfully conducted a secretive suborbital test launch of its Electron vehicle. The mission, named Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE), took place at Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia; with minimal public awareness and no live webcast, the launch remained shrouded in secrecy until after liftoff.
On April 10th, Rocket Lab announced the preliminary launch timeline for the two dedicated launches of four NASA’s TROPICS satellites. The two launches are expected to be on May 1st and May 16th 2023, launching from RocketLab’s LC-1A and LC-1B launchpads in New Zealand.
Rocket Lab is reevaluating the implementation of mid-air recovery for its Electron boosters as a means to achieve reusability of the vehicle.
NASA has selected RocketLab to launch the remaining 4 TROPICS weather satellites after the first two were lost in a failure of Astra's Rocket 3 launch vehicle.
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