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Air Force

Rocket Lab to Launch Air Force Payload as Inaugural Mission from U.S. Launch Site

By Vivienne Machi

Thursday, December 12th, 2019

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Rocket Lab to Launch Air Force Payload as Inaugural Mission from U.S. Launch Site

An aerial view of Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 2 (right) under construction on Wallops Island adjacent to the existing launch pad for Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket. (Photo: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab’s inaugural launch from its new U.S.-based site will be an Air Force Space Test Program payload aboard the Electron rocket, the company said Dec. 12. The Huntington, California-based small satellite launch company officially opened Launch Complex 2 Thursday at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia. The company previously launched out of its complex on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand and will continue to do so along with the new site. The ribbon-cutting comes just…

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