RocketLab’s “Return to Sender” launch does exactly what was promised

Enlarge / What went up... (credit: RocketLab)

The small satellite launch company RocketLab made its first successful recovery of its Electron rocket after it had sent a collection of payloads toward orbit. While this rocket itself isn't going to be reused, the company expects that it will get valuable data from sensors that returned to Earth with the vehicle. The satellite launch was a success as well, an important validation after the loss of seven satellites earlier this year.

As an added bonus, the company sent a garden gnome to space for charity.

One small step

The launch took place from the company's facility on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula and in many respects was uneventful. The countdown went off without a hitch, the second stage took the payloads to orbit, and the kicker vehicle distributed the satellites to individual orbits. But things got a bit more complicated as the second stage separated, with engineers immediately starting to calculate the likely location where the first stage would return to earth-or, more accurately, ocean.

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