Tag: Rocket Launches

Rocket Lab Marks Milestone with 50th Electron Rocket Launch

Spaceflight Now reports, “Rocket Lab successfully reached a milestone that few commercial rockets achieved and at a pace that outperformed its competition. The company launched its 50th Electron rocket to date just seven years after the vehicle’s debut in May 2017 … Onboard the rocket were five satellites on behalf of France-based internet of things company, Kinéis … All five on this flight were successfully deployed.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

 

Videos

RocketLab 50th Electron Launch
(The Launch Pad; YouTube)

Rocket Lab Launches NROL-123 Mission in 4th US Liftoff

SPACE reports, “Rocket Lab launched from the U.S. for the fourth time ever Thursday morning (March 21), sending mystery payloads aloft for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO).”  The NROL-123 mission, or “Live and Let Fly,” as Rocket Lab has designated it, launched at 3:25 a.m. EDT from the company’s Launch Complex 2 at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.
Full Story (SPACE)

 

 

 

Videos

RocketLab Electron 46 | NROL-123
(The Launch Pad; YouTube)

Musk Says SpaceX Plans to Launch Starship Again in Six to Eight Weeks

SPACE reports that Elon Musk announced Tuesday on Twitter that the SpaceX is shooting for another liftoff of Starship six to eight weeks from now. That timeline “may be ambitious, however, given the amount of prep work required ahead of the second flight.” For example, the liftoff “damaged Starbase’s orbital launch mount, blasting out a big crater beneath it and sending chunks of concrete flying, along with a huge cloud of dust and other debris.” SpaceX has been “developing and testing a water-cooled steel plate that will sit beneath the mount and prevent a recurrence of this problem, Musk said recently.” The company could also face some regulatory hurdles in a “coalition of environmental groups [that] is currently suing the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the body that issued Starship’s launch license, saying the agency didn’t properly assess the potential damage that the giant vehicle could inflict on the South Texas ecosystem and the human communities around Starbase.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Rocket Lab Works to Challenge SpaceX

Gizmodo reports Rocket Lab is working to challenge SpaceX, which currently has a stranglehold on the spaceflight industry. Rocket Lab CFO Adam Spice said, “We are positioning Neutron to compete directly with the Falcon 9,” CNBC reported. The projected cost “of flying with Neutron, a fully reusable medium-lift rocket that could perform its first launch next year, is slated at $50 million.” In comparison, SpaceX’s price per flight is typically $67 million. Rocket Lab has differentiated itself by developing 3D-printing technology and now performs “multi-continent launches of its Electron rocket.” Now, with its Neutron Rocket, Rocket Lab “is eyeing the medium-lift sector; the future rocket, in addition to delivering various payloads, is being positioned as a vehicle for transporting astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station.”
Full Story (Gizmodo)

Florida Space Week Features Rocket Launches and a Dragon Landing

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Space Coast “could see a lot of action this week with the first-ever launch of the 3D-printed rocket from Relativity Space, a couple of SpaceX Falcon 9 launches, and the return of four crew members from the International Space Station.” The first launch will be Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket on Wednesday, followed by Crew Dragon Endurance’s return and the possible splashdown of the Crew-5 mission from the ISS on Thursday.
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

FAA Seeking to Balance Rocket Launches with Air Traffic

USA Today reports that the Federal Aviation Administration “announced new guidelines for space launch approvals to ensure that air traffic controllers aren’t stretched too thin,” as private space launches are increasing and the FAA continues to deal with staffing issues. The FAA said in a statement, “The agency will rely on a set of objective factors to better balance the needs of launch licensees, as well as airlines, general aviation and the military to minimize disruptions.” USA Today adds, “With many space flights taking off on the Eastern Seaboard, an already-crowded sector of the airspace for commercial flights, those closures can create major headaches for air traffic controllers.”
Full Story (USA Today)