After years of launching rockets from New Zealand, commercial spaceflight company Rocket Lab is poised for its launch debut in the US.
California-based Rocket Lab launches its first mission from U.S. soil today (Dec. 18) from its new Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. The mission, which will use an Electron rocket to launch three HawkEye 360 satellites into orbit, will take off during a two-hour window opening at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) and you can watch it live in the View the window above for free. Rocket Lab begins the launch webcast approximately 40 minutes before launch.
“It’s clear that this is an important milestone for Rocket Lab,” CEO Peter Beck told reporters in a Dec. 14 prelaunch briefing. “It feels great to be at this point.” Rocket Lab initially aimed for a December 13 launch, but pushed back the launch for additional checks, weather forecast, and final flight paperwork to be completed.
Related: Rocket Lab’s first U.S. launch may be visible along the East Coast on Dec. 18
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket carrying three Hawkeye 360 satellites sits atop the new Launch Complex 2 pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia ahead of a scheduled launch on Dec. 28, 2022. (Image credit: NASA)
Rocket Lab Launches Visibility!
(Image credit: NASA)
Rocket Lab’s first US launch could be visible to millions along the East Coast! Here’s where and when to watch. If you see it, let us know with photos and comments [email protected]
Sunday’s launch, dubbed “Virginia Is For Launch Lovers” (a play on the state’s tourism motto of “Virginia Is For Lovers”), marks the beginning of a new era of flexibility for Rocket Lab as it aims to launch serve customers around the world. The company partnered with NASA at Wallops, as well as the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport that oversaw commercial launches from Wallops, to develop the new pad.
So far, Rocket Lab has used its two pads at Launch Complex 1 on the coast of New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula to fly missions. A US launch pad allows the company to launch missions for customers who require a US-based launch, such as government or military customers. Beck has said.
Rocket Lab opened its Launch Complex 2 in 2019 and originally planned to launch its first mission from there in 2020. But that first flight was delayed by two years due to delays in NASA’s development of a new autonomous flight termination system, a safety system needed before Electron launches from the Wallops Flight Facility. Rocket Lab uses a version of NASA’s autonomous flight termination system, which the company calls Pegasus, for its Electron flights.
David Pierce, NASA’s director of the Wallops Flight Facility, told reporters that flaws discovered in the NASA system’s software and subsequent testing by the space agency, US Space Force and Federal Aviation Authority were the reasons for the delay. NASA and the FAA completed their certification of the system ahead of Sunday’s launch attempt and signed final launch paperwork on Saturday (Dec. 17).
“It’s been nothing short of a tremendous effort to get us to this point, which I consider a turning point in launch range operation, not just at Wallops, but across the United States,” Pierce said.
Rocket Lab’s first Electron booster to fly from its Launch Complex 2 pad at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia will be atop its pad in December 2022. (Image credit: Trevor Mahlmann/Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab’s Virginia Is For Launch Lovers mission is the first of three flights for Virginia-based company HawkEye 360, which is building a constellation of small satellites for radio-frequency surveillance. Under a multiple launch agreement that struck HawkEye 360 in April, Rocket Lab will put 15 of the small satellites into orbit by 2024.
“These missions will grow HawkEye 360’s constellation of radio frequency monitoring satellites, enabling the company to more accurately map radio frequency emissions around the world,” Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description. (opens in new tab) .
Rocket Lab eventually aims to launch one Electron mission per month from its Wallops pad. The company is also building a new, larger reusable rocket called Neutron, which will also take off from the US launch site. The first flight of that rocket is not expected until 2024 at the earliest.
Beck said the Rocket Lab launch team has already learned from processing its first mission at Wallops (rocket components are shipped to the site in a container) and that the basics of preparing a rocket on the new US platform will be transferred to the new Neutron program. Rocket Lab is also building a neutron missile manufacturing facility in Virginia.
“I think, you know, a lot was learned from that,” Beck said. “The next few launches will be significantly more streamlined.”
But for now, he added, Electron has to beat its maiden flight.
“The missile is ready and on the pad,” Beck said. “The team is ready and it’s time to fly.”
Email Tariq Malik at [email protected] or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab) . follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) , Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab) .
