Rocket Lab plans to launch its Electron vehicle for the 50th time today (June 20), and you can watch the milestone moment live.
An Electron rocket topped with five small satellites for the French Internet of Things (IoT) company Kinéis is scheduled to lift off from Rocket Lab’s New Zealand site today at 2:13 p.m. EDT (1816 GMT; 6:13 a.m. local New Zealand time on June 21).
Rocket Lab will webcast the launch live, beginning 30 minutes before liftoff. Space.com will carry the feed if, as expected, Rocket Lab makes it available.
When you look at all the hurdles we had to clear, reaching our first launch seemed highly improbable. As we approach our 50th launch, @Peter_J_Beck reflects on the magnitude of the task we had in front of us to bring Electron to life. Fortunately we’ve never shied away from a… pic.twitter.com/MnZChovpDYJune 17, 2024
Rocket Lab calls today’s mission “No Time Toulouse,” a nod to the French city in which Kinéis is based.
If all goes according to plan, the five satellites will be deployed into low Earth orbit, 395 miles (635 kilometers) above Earth. They’re the first members of Kinéis’ planned 25-satellite IoT constellation, the other 20 of which will also go up on Electron rockets.
“Kinéis’ new constellation will connect any object anywhere in the world and guarantee the transmission of targeted and useful data to users, in near-real time, with low energy consumption with more powerful 30kg-class [66 pounds] nanosats that integrate IoT technology,” Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.
“The constellation also includes a second mission: a ship-tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS),” the company added. “Once deployed, these technologies will allow Kinéis to expand across multiple industries and scale from 20,000 devices connected to millions.”
The 59-foot-tall (18 meters) Electron debuted in May 2017, on a test flight that ended in failure. The rocket has flown 48 orbital missions to date, 44 of which have been successful.
Electron’s suborbital variant, known as HASTE (“Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron”) also has one mission under its belt, a successful test flight that launched in June 2023.
If all goes according to plan, Electron’s 50th flight will come seven years and one month after its debut — even faster than SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which took seven years and nine months to hit the 50 mark. The Falcon 9 has ramped up the pace considerably since then, of course; it has already launched more than 60 times in 2024.