Rocket Lab celebrates its 50th launch - and 46th from Mahia

Rocket Lab brings up its 50th launch on Friday morning, launching an Electron rocket from its Mahia base carrying five satellites for a French company. Photo / Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab has celebrated its 50th rocket launch with a successful early morning mission from its launch pad in Mahia.

The No Time Toulouse mission lifted off from Mahia at 6.13am today, carrying five satellites.

The company, set up by Kiwi Peter Beck, has its headquarters in the United States but launches most of its Electron rockets from the Mahia Peninsula in northern Hawke’s Bay.

The No Time Toulouse mission was the company’s 50th launch of its 18-metre Electron rockets and the 46th launch from Mahia. The other four launches have been in the US.

Rocket Lab’s first launch was from Mahia in 2017.

“Fifty launches later, Electron is the most successful commercial small rocket globally,” Beck said of the milestone.

“Making it to 50 launches faster than any commercially developed rocket in history is testament to the incredible team we have behind us.

“Today’s precise, tailored mission for [French satellite operator] Kineis is yet another demonstration of the value Electron continues to provide to the small sat community.

“Congratulations to our team and thank you to our customers and supporters.”

The company is working on a bigger rocket than the Electron, which will be called Neutron and be more than 40m high.

“To put it into context, Electron lifts about 300 kilograms to orbit; Neutron will lift 13,000kg to orbit,” Beck formerly told Hawke’s Bay Today.

That rocket won’t launch in New Zealand. It will be launched from Rocket Lab’s US launch site at Wallops Island, Virginia.