Rocket Lab's Electron rocket successfully launched from a private launch site in New Zealand. Though the rocket didn't quite reach orbit, Rocket Lab's team is still proud of how the test launch turned out as they prepare for a second and third test launch.
Partly Successful Debut Test Launch
After several delays, Rocket Lab's miniature satellite rocket, Electron, lifted-off from the Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch started beautifully and according to plan as it proved successful with the first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition, and fairing separation.
The debut test flight was going according to plan in its first and second stages, but the upper stage of the test launch, which also happens to be a test payload, did not quite reach its desired orbit at 310 miles above the Earth and instead reached approximately half of the desired altitude.
Still, despite this setback, Rocket Lab is proud of their test launch and sees it as an excellent milestone in the company. According to them, it is a great learning opportunity for their next test flights and for when Rocket Lab is fully operational. After all, it was a test flight that was made to see where improvements should be made.
What's more, Rocket Lab is especially proud of the launch given that they accomplished the feat with a relatively small team.
"We're one of a few companies to ever develop a rocket from scratch and we did it in under four years. We've worked tirelessly to get to this point. We've developed everything in house, built the world's first private orbital launch range, and we've done it with a small team," said Rocket Lab CEO and founder, Peter Beck.
Thank you to everyone who has supported our team! We were delighted with the result of the test. Full video: https://t.co/QIsDpVyu1y pic.twitter.com/XwADVDrXCX
— Rocket Lab (@RocketLabUSA) May 25, 2017
Rocket Lab's Plans
Rocket Lab's May 25 launch is only the first of three test launches scheduled for this year, and has provided the company with vast information that can better prepare the next two test flights.
Thanks to the immense data that they gathered from this first test launch, Rocket Lab's Los Angeles and Auckland engineers will spend the next few weeks scouring through 25,000 channels of data that will hopefully help them improve the rocket just in time for the next test launch.
After all the testing is done, Rocket Lab plans to provide about 50 launches a year. This is pretty good news for their customers such as NASA, Moon Express, Spire, Planet, and Spaceflight, because it will provide more space flight options as last year saw 22 launches from the United States, and a total of 82 launches internationally.
