Rocket Lab Sends NRO, NASA Smallsats to Orbit; Peter Beck Quoted

Rocket Lab has launched satellites from NASA, the National Reconnaissance Office and the Australian government as part of a rideshare mission dubbed “Don’t Stop Me Now," C4ISRNET reported Sunday.

The company’s Electron vehicle lifted off Saturday at the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand carrying three NRO satellites as well as a satellite-based Earth research payload for NASA.

Electron also launched payloads from the University of New South Wales Canberra Space as part of the mission.

Last month, Rocket Lab announced plans to commence the launch in early June following the easing of COVID-19 precautions in New Zealand.

Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, said in a statement obtained by C4ISRnet that the mission serves as a “testament to the flexibility” of the company’s multiple-payload rideshare missions to help small-satellite operators.

For its first U.S. launch, Rocket Lab will send a weather-monitoring microsatellite to orbit for the Air Force Research Laboratory’s “Monolith” effort. 

The mission is scheduled to launch from Wallops Island, Va., in the third quarter of this year.