Rocket Lab Targets Q2 2020 For First Virginia Launch, the US Air Force's STP-27RM Mission

December 12, 2019

Rocket Lab announced today that with the completion of construction at their US launch site at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia, their first US launch, carrying an R&D micro-satellite for the US Air Force, is currently scheduled for Q2 2020.

Having completed ten successful missions of their small satellite launcher Electron from their primary launch site on the Māhia Penninsula in New Zealand, the US-based company aims to increase their capabilities, reliability, and responsiveness by adding the second launch pad. In a press release, the company's CEO Peter Beck was quoted, "With the choice of two Rocket Lab launch sites offering more than 130 launch opportunities each year, our customers enjoy unmatched control over their launch schedule and orbital requirements."

Wallops Island, located on the coast of Virginia, USA, is already home to NASA's Wallops Flight Facility, from which NASA regularly launches sounding rockets, and Northrop Grumman launches Minotaur and Antares rockets a few times a year. The addition of the Rocket Lab launch pad could result in a marked increase in the number of launches from the Spaceport, which typically draw large crowds of spectators to the area's many local viewing locations. Rocket Lab aims to launch Electron as many as 12 times per year from the new facility, named Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2.

Be sure to keep up to date with Rocket Lab's Launch Schedule here on RocketLaunch.Live.