Friday, November 20, 2020

Rocket Lab Sees Successful Launch, Recovery

Long Beach-based rocket developer Rocket Lab successfully launched 30 satellites into space, and recovered the first stage of a rocket on Thursday, the first time the company has successfully made a recovery of its hardware. The "Return to Sender" mission was launched in New Zealand. Rocket Lab used a parachute to recover its first stage, which landed in water and was recovered using a recovery vessel. The ability to re-use the first stage of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket would further decrease costs for its launches, which are focused on specialized, small satellite payloads.