Live views of launch pad 39A (members only)

Rocket Lab’s first operational launch took off from Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand at 10:50 p.m. EST Saturday (0350 GMT Sunday). The Electron rocket is carrying six CubeSats and a tech demo payload into orbit for customers in the United States, Australia, and Germany.

The comments came during a fireside chat featuring former NASA administrators, Charlie Bolden and Jim Bridenstine, at the conclusion of the American Astronautical Society’s 2025 von Braun Space Exploration Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama.

Forecasters predict a 90% chance of good weather for liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral just after sunset Tuesday with a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.