The 13th mission of Rocket Lab did not go as planned on Saturday after the company's rocket encountered technical troubles following its post-boost phase into space. As a result, Rocket Lab lost both its rocket and all the satellites that it brought aboard.
The group's Electron Rocket successfully launched from the primary launch facility at Rocket Lab on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 5:19 p.m. Eastern Time. The launch seemed to proceed without any issues for the first critical moments, but the rocket's live video stalled about six minutes into the launch. Rocket Lab's livestream at that point showed that the rocket was beginning to lose momentum, and the vehicle was falling in altitude.
Rocket Lab confirmed the space vehicle and its payloads were lost, but no signs of what went wrong were immediately verified. The incident marks an unexpected development for the group, which has flown 11 successful consecutive Electron missions since the start of its space program.
Company chief executive officer Peter Beck said they lost the flight late into the mission and that the company feels incredibly sorry for failing to deliver their clients' satellites. "Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon," William Harwood of CBS News wrote.
The mission, named "Pics Or It Didn't Happen," had onboard mostly Earth-imaging small satellites and its primary payload was a satellite from Canon Electronics – part of a series the group is producing to image features on the ground that are tinier than a meter across.
Planet, a company which operates the largest network of imaging space vehicles in orbit, was attempting to deploy five of its newest iteration of satellites. As the San Francisco-headquartered group makes and launches so many space vehicles, it is expected to easily bounce back from this failure.
The spacecraft also carried five SuperDove satellites from Planet, designed to image Earth from orbit. Its last cargo was a small satellite named Faraday-1, from In-Space Missions, which hosted several types of electronic devices from startups and other companies that needed a ride to space.
Rocket Lab, founded in New Zealand and now based out of Long Beach, California, attempted first Electron Rocket launch in 2017. The flight was scrapped after a malfunction in telemetry, but the booster was functioning normally during the launch. Saturday's incident was Rocket Lab's second Electron failure in 13 flights.
Spaceflight, a group that brokers rideshare missions, including Canon's launch, disclosed in a statement their disappointment, while at the same time are always aware that "launch failures are part of the business of space," CBS News reported.
