Breaking News
Everything I Warned You About Just Happened... All in One Week
Your Grief, My Grief, Our Grief in the Loss of a Loved One
Vance: Federal Government Has Identified $230 Billion In Fraud Since March
Saudi Arabia's $5 Oil Detour Is Expensive... But Worth It
Top Tech News
What could possibly go wrong? Scientists use AI to design new viruses
Dual-motor suitcase drive underpins 3,000-hp hypercar
DoorDash Wins Federal Approval To Fly Its Own Delivery Drones
Shade-Resistant Solar Cells Retain 97% Efficiency After 2,000 Hours of Testing
20 Ancient Engineering SECRETS
Stonehenge Was Reanalyzed by AI -- And the Findings Are Hard to Explain
After Years Of Delays, Aptera Is Finally Preparing To Build Customer Cars
'When you kill it, it doesn't die': the jellyfish that has cracked the secret of immorta
Archer Aviation debuts Halo autonomous VTOL, Thunder's commercial twin
US Telecoms Slide On Starlink Mobile Threat; Bernstein Sees It As A "Jab, But No Knockout Yet**
Rocket Lab sets date for first commercial launch of its Electron rocket
US spaceflight startup Rocket Lab is officially open for business and has scheduled its very first commercial launch for later this month. The company will launch its small Electron rocket with payloads from two paying satellite operators on board — just three months after completing a second test flight of the vehicle. The upcoming mission will initiate the beginning of customer operations for Rocket Lab, which claims to have a busy manifest for this year and next.
After four years of developing the Electron, Rocket Lab flew the vehicle for the first time in May 2017 out of the company's own private launch site in New Zealand. That test flight — appropriately dubbed "It's a Test" — made it to space, though the rocket didn't achieve orbit, due to a glitch in communication equipment on the ground. Rocket Lab was able to fix the problem, though, and performed a second test flight of the Electron in January in a mission called "Still Testing." That time, the vehicle did make it to orbit and even deployed four satellites, including a secret disco ball probe made by Rocket Lab's CEO Peter Beck.