EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated for new launch attempt Jan. 20.
Rocket Lab’s light-class Electron launcher is set to take off on its second orbital test flight from New Zealand, aiming to deliver three small shoebox-sized CubeSats into low Earth orbit for Planet and Spire.
The two-stage, 55-foot-tall (17-meter) rocket could take off as soon as 8:30 p.m. EST on Jan. 20 (0130 GMT on Jan. 21) from Rocket Lab’s commercial launch complex on Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand’s North Island.
The privately-developed Electron launcher is making its second flight after its maiden flight in May reached space, but faltered before reaching orbit. While the second flight is still considered a test — Rocket Lab has christened the mission “Still Testing” — three CubeSats are on-board from California-based companies Planet and Spire.
The timeline posted below is accompanied by animation provided by Rocket Lab that illustrates the approximate appearance of the major flight events.
SpaceX founder and chief executive Elon Musk announced Monday plans to send two paying “private individuals” on a week-long flight around the moon and back to Earth by the end of next year.
A European satellite hosting a spaceborne laser crafted to measure winds in Earth’s atmosphere rode a Vega launcher into orbit Wednesday from French Guiana, a thundering sendoff for a three-year mission that could improve global weather forecasts.
Forecasters predict near-ideal weather conditions Monday night for the first launch at Cape Canaveral this year, when SpaceX plans to send another 60 Starlink broadband satellites into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket.