Update at 9:45AM ET: Rocket Lab has successfully launched a flight without a Beat mission to bring two new BlackSky Earth observation satellites into orbit. Read the full launch summary.
Rocket Lab will launch two new Earth observation satellites into orbit from New Zealand today that you can watch live online.
a rocket lab The Electron vehicle is scheduled to roll out two Earth observation satellites of the US company BlackSky today, April 2, at 8:10 a.m. EDT (1210 GMT) from the Rocket Lab site in New Zealand. You’ll be able to watch it live on this page, courtesy of Rocket Lab, starting about 20 minutes before takeoff. You can also watch Directly from the Rocket Lab website.
Rocket Lab initially planned to launch the mission on Friday before Successful launch of a SpaceX missile but announced the flight delay late Thursday.
“Now targeting April 02 for launch to avoid bad weather,” Rocket Lab Wrote in Twitter update.
The electron is perpendicular to the A-pad at the launch of Complex 1 of #WithoutMissionABeatTarget T-0: 🚀UTC | 12:14 am, 2 Apr 🚀NZDT | 01:14, Apr 03 🚀EDT | 08:14, Apr 02 🚀PDT | 05:14, Apr 02 pic.twitter.com/2L5yLEqeEKApril 2, 2022
The launch of Rocket Lab, dubbed “Without Mission a Beat,” will be the 25th Electron launch overall. If all goes according to plan, the number of satellites delivered into orbit by California-based Rocket Lab will rise to 112, According to the company’s mission description.
Rocket Lab is making Electron’s two-stage first stage reusable, lowering boosters for ocean splash and recovery operations on many previous missions. However, there will be no such activities in “Without a Win Mission”.
The Rocket Lab launch is the second in two days for commercial space companies. Friday, a SpaceX A Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, which carried 40 satellites into orbit for a variety of customers, weather permitting.
The first stage of Falcon 9 has returned to a land Shortly after takeoff and landing on an autonomous drone stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The first stage of Falcon 9’s flight on Friday completed its seventh launch and landing of the mission.
Related: SpaceX missile development
The Friday and Saturday launches are part of a very busy and exciting weekend for space lovers. Friday also marks the start of a three-day “wet dress rehearsal” for NASA Artemis 1 The mission, which will use a massive rocket from the Space Launch System (SLS) to send an unmanned Orion capsule around the moon.
during the wet rehearsal, members of the Artemis 1 team will undergo several pre-launch procedures, including fueling the SLS. If all goes well with testing, Artemis 1 could start as early as May or June.
Editor’s note: This story, originally published Thursday, has been updated to reflect the delay in the launch of Rocket Lab until April 2 due to weather.
Mike Wall is the author of “AbroadBook (Great Grand Publishing House, 2018; illustrated by Carl Tate), a book on the search for extraterrestrials. Follow him on Twitter Tweet embed. Follow us on Twitter Tweet embed or on Facebook.
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