Rocket Lab’s 13th launch ends in failure, after rocket experiences problem mid-flight
Rocket Lab’s 13th mission ended in failure on Saturday, after the company’s rocket experienced some kind of problem after launching to space.
As a result, Rocket Lab lost its rocket, as well as all the satellites it carried on board.
The company’s Electron rocket
successfully took off at 5:19PM ET from Rocket Lab’s primary launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.
The launch
seemed to proceed just fine for the first crucial minutes, but about six minutes into the launch, live video from the rocket stalled.
At that point, Rocket Lab’s livestream indicated that the rocket started to lose speed, and the vehicle dropped in altitude.
Rocket Lab(@RocketLab) / Twitter
An issue was experienced today during Rocket Lab’s launch that caused the loss of the vehicle.
We are deeply sorry to the customers on board Electron.
The issue occurred late in the flight during the 2nd stage burn. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
6:44 AM · Jul 5, 2020
The Verge
satellites for Canon, Planet and more live
Rocket Labis launching a rideshare mission today which includes seven small satellites from a number of different companies,
Canon
including primary payload provider Canon, which is flying a satellite equipped with the camera-maker’s Earth imaging technology, including high-res photo capture equipment.
The Electron rocket that Rocket Lab is flying today will also carry five Planet SuperDove Earth-Observation satellites,as well as a CubeSat from In-Space missions.
TechCrunch