Rocket Lab's First Mission From Virginia Delayed Until 2023

Aria Alamalhodaei writes via TechCrunch: We're going to have to wait a little longer for Rocket Lab's American debut. The company, which is headquartered in Los Angeles, was due to launch a trio of satellites for radio-frequency analytics customer HawkEye 360 to orbit from the company's new site at Virginia Space's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. It would've marked the first time a Rocket Lab vehicle has taken off from U.S. soil. But the company said late yesterday that strong upper-levels winds made today -- the final day in the launch window -- a no-go, pushing the launch to January. It's certainly a bummer. The mission was due to have a handful of firsts: Not only marking the first time Electron takes off from U.S. soil, but also the first time a rocket flies with novel flight safety software that Rocket Lab and NASA say is a gamechanger for American launch plans. That software, an autonomous flight termination system, will reduce range costs and prime Rocket Lab to serve the launch needs of the U.S. defense agencies. "This flight just doesn't symbolize another launch pad for Rocket Lab," CEO Peter Beck told reporters in a media briefing last Wednesday. "It's a standing up of a new capability for the nation." That capability is called the NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU), a key component of the Pegasus software, which was jointly developed by Rocket Lab and the space agency. Autonomous flight termination capabilities will be required on all Department of Defense launches by 2025.

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