Mission Reports

Relativity Space, a California-based startup that counts billionaire Mark Cuban as one of its early investors, is ready to launch the first 3D-printed, methane-fueled rocket into orbit from Cape Canaveral.

Relativity Space’s 10-story-tall Terran 1 rocket will encounter the most extreme aerodynamic forces of its eight-minute test flight around 80 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. That’s a key moment when the company’s engineers hope to confirm the 3D-printed rocket can withstand the rigors of launch.

Japan’s first H3 rocket, designed to launch satellites and resupply space stations, fell back to Earth Monday after its second stage engine failed to ignite five minutes into an inaugural test flight, destroying the rocket and a three-ton Earth observation spacecraft.

Japan’s new H3 rocket launched on its first test flight Monday at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT Tuesday), but faltered before reaching orbit when the second stage apparently failed to ignite about five minutes into the mission. The H3 rocket and Japan’s ALOS 3 land imaging satellite were destroyed in the failure.

Forecasters from the U.S. Space Force predict mostly sunny conditions at Cape Canaveral during a three-hour launch window Wednesday afternoon for the first flight of Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket.

After an electrical problem kept Japan’s first H3 rocket on the ground during a launch attempt last month, teams wheeled the new hydrogen-fueled launcher back to its firing stand for another countdown Monday to try to send an Earth observation satellite into orbit.