Rocket Lab Surprises with Kick Stage Test & Humanity Star on Recent “Still Testing” Mission

Rocket Lab – after successfully demonstrating the company’s Electron launch vehicle last weekend – had another surprise in store this week when revealing the mission had successfully executed an orbit circularization maneuver with a previously unknown Kick Stage and deployed a reflective satellite named “The Humanity Star”.

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Rocket Lab’s Electron Rocket Aborts at Ignition

Rocket Lab’s Electron, set for its second test launch from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, encountered a last-second ignition abort on Tuesday, shutting down its electric-pump-fed Rutherford engines just moments before liftoff when its computers detected an off-nominal parameter.

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Maiden Electron Launch Cut Short by Faulty Ground Equipment

Launch Services Provider Rocket Lab on Monday shared details on why the inaugural launch of the company’s Electron rocket failed to reach orbit, concluding that a faulty piece of ground telemetry equipment was responsible for the flight’s untimely end as opposed to a problem with the launch vehicle.

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Electron’s “It’s a Test” successfully reaches Space, falls short of Orbit

Rocket Lab joined the ranks of only a few private companies capable of sending rockets into space, debuting their innovative Electron rocket on Thursday in a long-awaited shakedown mission. However, the rocket fell short of reaching orbit, Rocket Lab said after the test flight.

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Launch Week Arrives for Rocket Lab’s Electron

An innovative new rocket relying on electrically-driven engine pumps, 3D-printed components and an all-composite structure stands ready for liftoff atop its New Zealand Launch Pad to become the first in a series of Small Satellite Launch Vehicles to reach the commercial market, offering affordable access to space.

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