Rocket Lab

By Irene Klotz
Seven missions have been set aside for the third-place winner.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Garrett Reim
Swarming paths could be useful for deep-space scientific missions.
Space

By Guy Norris
The first version of the Electron rocket modified for use as a booster for hypersonic and suborbital flight tests launched successfully on June 17.
Space

By Irene Klotz
The final two members of a novel cubesat quartet were launched into orbit to track developing storms on a near-hourly basis.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno, Guy Norris
Like a shooting star, Virgin Orbit’s quick flare-up and steady diminution punctuates new space’s financial struggles.
Commercial Space

By Michael Bruno
Virgin Orbit will close after its assets were bought by four bankruptcy bidders including Rocket Lab and Stratolaunch.
Commercial Space

By Mark Carreau
The NASA-funded Capstone has completed its six-month primary mission in orbit around the Moon with a successful autonomous navigation demonstration.
Space

By Irene Klotz
Rocket Lab was awarded another NASA contract to launch a second multi-cubesat mission to demonstrate autonomous swarm technologies.
Space

By Jen DiMascio
Turkish trainer flies; a look at two U.S. Space Force programs; Rocket Lab’s hypersonic test and Biden picks new Army chief.
Budget, Policy & Operations

By Steve Trimble
The HASTE uses the same Rutherford engines as Rocket Lab's Electron, but modifies the third stage to carry larger payloads and for suborbital deployment.
Missile Defense & Weapons

By Irene Klotz
A pair of 6U science sats, originally slated to piggyback a ride to Mars with NASA’s Psyche asteroid probe, will instead launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
Commercial Space

By Jen DiMascio
It was Rocket Lab’s first from the Wallops Island facility, opening a new venue for the Electron rocket and marking a new beginning for the Virginia spaceport.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
As a reusable booster, Neutron is designed to carry 8 tons into low Earth orbit.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
Rocket Lab will provide two Photon satellites for a NASA-backed small-science mission to explore the magnetosphere of Mars.
Space

By Guy Norris
Rocket Lab is poised to conduct the first of two additional tests of Electron launch vehicles specially modified for reusability which, if successful, could pave the way for the first mid-air recovery of a booster for re-use as early as next year.
Space

By Steve Trimble
A Rocket Lab Electron booster has carried seven satellites on a rideshare mission into space from New Zealand.
Space

By Michael Bruno
Rocket Lab will become a publicly traded company with $750 million in cash to develop a new medium-lift launcher, grow its end-to-end space business including through acquisitions, and continue to target U.S. government customers.
Space

By Irene Klotz
The mission carried nine Earth-imaging SuperDove cubesats for Planet and a tech demo for Canon Electronics.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
The Electron rocket’s kick stage that dispatched a small satellite into orbit for on Aug. 31 has become a free-flying demonstration of Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite platform, the company disclosed Sept. 3.
Commercial Space

By Irene Klotz
About 4 min. into its second-stage burn, the Electron rocket “experienced an issue that caused the complete loss of the vehicle and unfortunately the payloads,” Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck said.
Space