Rocket Lab Completed its Morning Launch from LC-2, Preps for ‘Ice AIS Baby’ mission for Kinéis (* updated for liftoff on schedule)
Should “Ice AIS Baby” launch successfully, Rocket Lab will complete its first two launches within 24 hours for the first time, and more than 200 satellites will have been launched by Electron to date.
(Launch Complex 1, New Zealand) Space design, manufacturing and launch company Rocket Lab (NASDAQ: RKLB) completed its second dedicated mission for innovation company Leidos from Pad 0C / Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) on Wallops Island, Viriginia this morning (Nov. 24) at 0600 GMT (7.00 pm NZDT / 0100 EST); if the company’s upcoming ‘Ice AIS Baby’ mission for global operator and provider of space-based Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity Kinéis launches during its target liftoff at 4:55pm NZDT on Nov. 25th (10:55pm EST on Nov. 24th / 0318 GMT on Nov. 25th), today will mark Rocket Lab’s first two launches within a 24-hour time period. UPDATE: ‘Ice AIS Baby’ lifted off as planned at 4:55pm NZDT
Photo of this morning’s Rocket Lab launch for Leidos from Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) in New Zealand courtesy of a post by Rocket Lab on X, @rocketlab.
This morning’s launch was performed by Rocket Lab’s HASTE (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) – a vehicle derived from the two-stage orbital class expendable Electron – from Rocket Lab LC-2 within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, according to Space Voyaging. The mission marked the second launch of HASTE and the first of four launches Rocket Lab has planned for Lidos between 2024 and 2025.
The target launch time for Rocket Lab’s upcoming Ice AIS Baby launch via its Electron rocket is at 4:55pm NZDT (0355 GMT) on Nov. 25th (10:55pm on Nov. 24th EST). The mission’s payload is described on Rocket Lab’s website as “5x internet of things satellites.”
Photo of Rocket Lab’s Electron on the pad at the company’s Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) in New Zealand courtesy of a post by Rocket Lab on X, , @rocketlab.
Specifically, the “Ice AIS Baby” mission is scheduled to launch during a 14-day window that opens on November 25th NZDT, 2024. The mission is the third of five dedicated Electron launches booked by Kinéis in a multi-launch contract that will see Rocket Lab deploy an entire constellation of 25 IoT satellites, and the first two missions were successfully launched by Electron in June and September 2024, per Rocket Lab’s website.
