Congratulations also to our team on delivering 40 Electron launches, completing another booster recovery, and proving Rutherford engines can be flown multiple times. Electron has played a crucial role in helping constellation operators like Capella deploy their spacecraft on time and on target, and we look forward to continuing building out Capella’s constellation with more dedicated launches this year. Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck says: “We’ve been a trusted launch partner to Capella since 2020 and we’re delighted to deliver mission success once again. ‘We Love the Nightlife’ was the first of four new dedicated launches on Electron for Capella, announced in February 2023, to deploy Capella’s next-generation Acadia satellites. The mission follows on from Rocket Lab’s two previous launches for Capella, including the “Stronger Together” mission launched in March 2023 from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, and the “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Optical” mission in August 2020 from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, which deployed the first satellite in Capella’s SAR constellation. The engine performed on par with new Rutherford engines, completing a successful first stage burn. The engine previously flew on the first stage of the ‘There and Back Again’ mission, launched in May 2022. In addition to recovering the booster, Rocket Lab launched a pre-flown 3D printed Rutherford engine for the first time. Rocket Lab’s marine recovery vessel will soon extract the stage from the ocean and transport it back to Rocket Lab’s production complex for analysis and testing to inform future recovery efforts. The ‘We Love The Nightlife’ mission lifted off on August 24 th at 11:45 am NZST from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula, deploying Capella’s next-generation Acadia satellite for its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation to a 640km circular low Earth orbit.Īs a recovery mission, Electron’s first stage returned to Earth under a parachute after launch and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean several hundred kilometers down range from Launch Complex 1. The mission was also Rocket Lab’s 40 th Electron launch since the Company began launches in 2017, further cementing Electron’s position as the leading commercial small launch vehicle globally. The mission demonstrated several significant milestones for Rocket Lab’s reusability program, including an ocean splashdown of the Electron rocket’s first stage and the successful flight of a previously flown Rutherford engine. (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a leading launch and space systems company, today successfully launched a dedicated Electron mission for Capella Space (Capella). MAHIA, New Zealand-( BUSINESS WIRE)-Rocket Lab USA, Inc.
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