Today's launch by Rocket Lab, "The Owl Spreads Its Wings," was as unremarkable as a rocket going to orbit can be, but it also marked a few milestone for the growing space company.
The first successful delivery of a payloads to space was achieved by the company in January of 2018). The company has been in existence for more than 10 years.
On its 20th launch, there was an abnormality and it lost the vehicle and the payload. Peter Beck told me that the team was already working on the problem after they realized there was an issue. They were able to fly a month after that.
Plans for designing a spaceship, a trip to Venus and a bigger, better launch vehicle called Neutron are all part of the company's ambitions. It was all part of the plan from the get-go, according to Beck.
The first attempt to catch a falling first stage with a helicopter was one of the many successes of the year. They will try that again before the end of the year, but you can relive that moment here.
Success! Rocket Lab catches a booster in mid-air with a helicopter
Since they are in New Zealand, the Japanese company Synspective took over the entire vehicle to deliver the satellite. In February and December of 2020, Rocket Lab delivered two more satellites.
Beck will talk about the ambitions of Rocket Lab at our December event.
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