Rocket Lab is a public launch provider and aerospace manufacturer. The company was founded in New Zealand in 2006 by Peter Beck and has its headquarters in Long Beach, California (USA). Rocket Lab uses its two-stage Electron rocket to service the commercial small satellite launch market. The first test launches of an Electron rocket took place on 25 May 2017 and 21 Januari 2018 after which the Electron performed its first commercial flight in November 2018. Meanwhile, Rocket Lab has already performed dozens of launches on behalf of various commercial and governmental clients such as Planet Labs, Spire Global, Spaceflight Industries, NASA and NRO. Learn about all the different launches of the commercial Electron rocket from the space company Rocket Lab thanks to this overview!
Electron launch overview
No.
Mission name
Date launch
Rocket
Launch base
Orbit
Payload
Patch
Video
Mission succes?
1
"It's a Test"
25/05/2017
LEO
Test payload (Rocket Lab)
Failure
2
"Still Testing"
21/01/2018
LEO
Humanity Star (Rocket Lab)
Dove Pioneer (Planet Labs)
Lemur-2 72 (Spire)
Lemur-2 73 (Spire)
Success
3
"It's Business Time"
11/11/2018
LEO
Proxima 1 (Fleet Space Techn.)
Proxima 2 (Fleet Space Techn.)
NABEO 1 (HPS GmbH)
CICERO 10 (GeoOptics Inc.)
IRVINE 01 (Irvine Public School)
Lemur-2 82 (Spire)
Lemur-2 83 (Spire)
Success
4
"This One's For Pickering"
16/12/2018
LEO
ALBus (NASA)
CeREs (NASA)
CHOMPTT (University of Florida/NASA)
CubeSail A & B (University of Illinois)
Da Vinci (North Idaho STEM Charter)
ISX (NASA/JPL)
NMTSat (New Mexico Institute of Mining)
RSat-P (US Naval Academy)
Shields 1 (NASA)
SHFT 2 (DARPA)
STF 1 (NASA/West Virginia University)
TOMSat EagleScout (Aerospace Corp.)
TOMSat R3 (Aerospace Corp.)
Success
5
"Two Thumbs Up"
28/03/2019
LEO
R3D2 (DARPA)
Success
6
"That's a Funny Looking Cactus"
05/05/2019
LEO
Harbinger (York Space Systems)
SPARC 1 (Air Force Research Lab.)
Falcon-ODE (U.S. Air Force Academy)
Success
7
"Make it Rain"
29/06/2019
LEO
ACRUX-1 (Melbourne Space Program)
Painani 1 (SEDENA)
BlackSky 3 (BlackSky Global)
Prometheus 2.7 (Los Alamos National Lab.)
Prometheus 2.9 (Los Alamos National Lab.)
SpaceBEE 8 (Swarm Technologies)
SpaceBEE 9 (Swarm Technologies)
Success
8
"Look Ma, No Hands"
19/08/2019
LEO
BRO 1 (UnseenLabs)
BlackSky Global 4 (BlackSky Global)
Pearl White 1 (AFSPC)
Pearl White 2 (AFSPC)
Success
9
"As The Crow Flies"
17/10/2019
LEO
Palisade (Astro Digital)
Success
10
"Running Out Of Fingers"
06/12/2019
LEO
TRSI Sat (My Radar)
ATL-1 (ATL Ltd.)
SMOG-P (BME University)
ALE-2 (Astra Live Experiences)
Fossasat-1 (Fossa Systems)
NOOR-1A (Alba Orbital)
NOOR-1B (Alba Orbital)
Success
11
"Birds of a Feather"
31/01/2020
LEO
NROL-151 (NRO)
Success
12
"Don't Stop Me Now"
13/06/2020
LEO
RAAF M2PF (Australian Defence)
ANDESITE (Boston University)
USA-301 (NRO)
USA-302 (NRO)
USA-303 (NRO)
Success
13
"Pic's or it Didn't happen"
04/07/2020
LEO
CE-SAT-IB (Canon)
Faraday 1 (InSpace)
SuperDove 240E (Planet Labs)
SuperDove 240B (Planet Labs)
SuperDove 2411 (Planet Labs)
SuperDove 2410 (Planet Labs)
SuperDove 2418 (Planet Labs)
Failure
14
"I Can't Believe It's Not Optical"
31/08/2020
LEO
Photon 01 (Rocket Lab)
Sequoia (Capella Space)
Success
15
"In Focus"
28/10/2020
LEO
CE-SAT-IIB (Canon)
Dove 225A (Planet Labs)
Dove 2279 (Planet Labs)
Dove 2251 (Planet Labs)
Dove 227E (Planet Labs)
Dove 2276 (Planet Labs)
Dove 2280 (Planet Labs)
Dove 2262 (Planet Labs)
Dove 2264 (Planet Labs)
Dove 2441 (Planet Labs)
Success
16
"Return To Sender"
20/11/2020
LEO
BRO-2 (UnseenLabs)
BRO-3 (UnseenLabs)
APSS-1 (QuakeTEC/APSS)
Gnome Chompski(Rocket Lab)
Dragracer A (TriSept Corp.)
Dragracer B (TriSept Corp.)
Mandrake 1 (DARPA)
24 x SpaceBEE (Swarm Technologies)
Success
17
"The Owl's Night Begins"
15/12/2020
LEO
StriX-a (Synspective)
Success
18
"Another OneLeaves The Crust"
20/01/2021
LEO
GMS-T (OHB)
Success
19
"They Go Up So Fast"
22/03/2021
LEO
Centauri 3 (Fleet Space Tech.)
Myriota 7 (Myriota)
RAAF-M2 A (Australian Defence)
RAAF-M2 B (Australian Defence)
BlackSky-7 (BlackSky Global)
Gunsmoke-J 3 (SMDC)
Photon 02 (Rocket Lab)
Veery Hatchling (Care Weather Tech.)
Success
20
"Running Out Of Toes"
15/05/2021
LEO
BlackSky-8 (BlackSky Global)
BlackSky-9 (BlackSky Global)
Failure
21
"It's A Little Chile Up Here"
29/07/2021
LEO
Monolith (U.S. Space Force)
Success
22
"Love At First Insight"
18/11/2021
LEO
BlackSky-10 (BlackSky Global)
BlackSky-11 (BlackSky Global)
Success
23
"A Data With Destiny"
09/12/2021
LEO
BlackSky-13 (BlackSky Global)
BlackSky-14 (BlackSky Global)
Success
24
"The Owls Night Continues"
28/02/2022
LEO
StriX-β (Synspective)
Success
25
"Without Mission A Beat"
02/04/2022
LEO
BlackSky 16 (BlackSky Global)
BlackSky 17 (BlackSky Global)
Success
26
"There And Back Again"
02/05/2022
SSO
AuroraSat 1 (Aurora Propulsion Tech.)
BRO 6 (UnseenLabs)
MyRadar 1 (ACME)
TRSI-Sat 2 (ACME)
TRSI-Sat 3 (ACME)
Copia (Astrix)
Unicorn 2 (Alba Orbital)
3 x E-Space Demo (E-Space)
8 x SpaceBEENZ (Swarm Technologies)
16 x SpaceBEE (Swarm Technologies)
Success
27
"CAPSTONE"
28/06/2022
Lunar
CAPSTONE (NASA/AES)
Success
28
"Wise One Looks Ahead"
13/07/2022
LEO
NROL 162 (NRO)
Success
29
"Antipodean Adventure"
04/08/2022
LEO
NROL 199 (NRO)
Success
30
"The Owl Spreads Its Wings"
15/09/2022
SSO
StriX-1 (Synspective)
Success
31
"It Argos Up From Here"
07/10/2022
SSO
GAzelle (GA-EMS)
Success
32
"Catch Me If You Can"
04/11/2022
SSO
MATS (SNSA)
Success
33
"Virginia Is For Launch Lovers"
25/01/2023
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (USA)
LEO
HawkEye 6A (HawkEye 360)
HawkEye 6B (HawkEye 360)
HawkEye 6C (HawkEye 360)
Success
34
"Stronger Together"
16/03/2023
Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (USA)
LEO
Capella 9 (Capella Space)
Capella 10 (Capella Space)
Success
35
"The Beat Goes On"
24/03/2023
LEO
BlackSky-18 (BlackSky Global)
BlackSky-19 (BlackSky Global)
Success
36
"Rocket Like A Hurricane"
08/05/2023
LEO
TROPICS 05 (NASA)
TROPICS 06 (NASA)
Success
37
"Coming To A Storm Near You"
26/05/2023
LEO
TROPICS 03 (NASA)
TROPICS 07 (NASA)
Success
38
"Baby Come Back"
18/07/2023
SSO
Lemur-2 169 (Spire)
Lemur-2 170 (Spire)
Telesat LEO 3 (TeleSat)
Starling 1 (NASA)
Starling 2 (NASA)
Starling 3 (NASA)
Starling 4 (NASA)
Success
39
"We Love The Nightlife"
23/08/2023
LEO
Acadia 1 (Capella Space)
Success
40
"We Will Never Desert You"
19/09/2023
LEO
Acadia 2 (Capella Space)
Failure
41
"The Moon God Awakens"
15/12/2023
LEO
QPS-SAR-5 (IQPS)
Success
42
"Four Of A Kind"
31/01/2024
LEO
Skylark 1 (Northstar Earth & Space)
Skylark 2 (Northstar Earth & Space)
Skylark 3 (Northstar Earth & Space)
Skylark 4 (Northstar Earth & Space)
Success
43
"On Closer Inspection"
18/02/2024
LEO
ADRAS-J (Astroscale Japan)
Success
44
"Owl Night Long"
12/03/2024
SSO
StriX-3 (Synspective)
Success
Images: Rocket Lab
Kris Christiaens
This article was published by FutureSpaceFlight founder and chief editor Kris Christiaens.
Kris Christiaens has been passionate and fascinated by spaceflight and space exploration all his life and has written hundreds of articles on space projects, the commercial space industry and space missions over the past 20 years for magazines, books and websites. In late 2021, he founded the website FutureSpaceFlight with the goal of promoting new space companies and commercial space projects and compiling news of these start-ups and companies on one website.
Test payload (Rocket Lab)
Humanity Star (Rocket Lab)
Proxima 1 (Fleet Space Techn.)
NABEO 1 (HPS GmbH)
Painani 1 (SEDENA)
BRO 1 (UnseenLabs)
ATL-1 (ATL Ltd.)
ALE-2 (Astra Live Experiences)
Fossasat-1 (Fossa Systems)
Faraday 1 (InSpace)
GMS-T (OHB)
AuroraSat 1 (Aurora Propulsion Tech.)
MATS (SNSA)
Skylark 1 (Northstar Earth & Space)
