Rocket Lab to get back into space in November after hiatus caused by Delta
Tuesday, 12 October 2021
Rocket Lab expects to resume launches from the Māhia Peninsular near Gisborne in mid-November after a hiatus of more than two months caused by Auckland’s Covid restrictions.
The New Zealand-founded launch company has set dates for two missions before the end of the year, in launch windows opening on November 11 and November 27.
The missions will be the first since Rocket Lab floated on the Nasdaq stock exchange in August and both will be to launch observation satellites for regular commercial customer Blacksky.
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The launches were originally scheduled as two of three set down for late August and September, but had to be pushed back after Auckland entered a level 4 lockdown.
Rocket Lab shares closed at US$14.04 on Tuesday, up from their IPO price of US$10, valuing the company at about US$6.6 billion (NZ$9.5b).
Its shares remain down on their September high of US$21.34.
Although Rocket Lab has been grounded by Delta, the company’s share price has been boosted by a few developments since its float.
In late September it secured a US$24m grant from the US Space Force to develop the upper stage of its new line of heavier Neutron rockets.
Last week it was selected by Nasa to launch a solar sail designed to test whether photons expelled by the sun could be used to propel satellites used for deep space exploration, in a mission scheduled for mid next year.