WALLOPS, Va. – Rocket Lab becomes the latest company to join a growing number of spaceflight operators blasting off up and down the U.S. East Coast.
After launching from New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula since 2017, Rocket Lab’s Electron now has a second home at the Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility.
Electron’s first launch from Launch Complex 2 is slated for Friday between 6 and 8 p.m. EST. The rocket will deploy satellites for geoanalytics provider HawkEye 360.
Rocket Lab has dubbed the mission “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” as an ode to the company’s first launch from the state. With two operational launch pads in New Zealand, Rocket Lab is headquartered in Long Beach, California, and building a manufacturing facility at Wallops for its Neutron rocket.
“It feels great to be at this point,” Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told reporters this week. “Obviously, it’s been a long road.”
Beck said delays from the coronavirus pandemic provided challenges for the space company working toward its first U.S. launch.
“The rocket is ready, and on the pad, the team is ready, and it’s time to fly,” Beck said.
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With everything for a successful launch lined up, Beck said only a few steps remain in the way of the official “go” for launch, including a good launch forecast and the final paperwork from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration.
“It wouldn’t be a rocket launch without tricky weather,” Beck said.
A winter storm system moving from coast to coast, bringing severe weather, including a deadly tornado outbreak in the Southeast, is expected to arrive in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast on Thursday.
A brief wintry mix is expected for the Interstate 95 corridor before it becomes primarily a rain event in the big cities.
NASA Wallops Flight Facility Director David Pierce said the forecast for Friday’s two-hour launch window is 85% favorable, with a slight chance of cumulus cloud cover violating launch constraints.