Rocket Lab Readies Second New Zealand Launch Pad for Upcoming Mission

Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in Mahia, New Zealand, is the world’s first and only private orbital launch site, operating both vehicle and payload preparation and launch facilities, range tracking and telemetry, and launch control. A second launch pad, LC-1B, has just been completed at the site and will be used to launch the 24th Electron mission, placing a synthetic aperture radar satellite into a 561 km Sun-synchronous orbit for Synspective, Inc. Launch is scheduled for 2022-02-27 at 20:35 UTC. Here is a pre-flight preview from Everyday Astronaut.

In addition to the two launch pads in New Zealand, Rocket Lab has a second launch site at Wallops Island, Virginia, in the U.S. which has not yet been used for a launch.

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