T-minus 7 hours: Emergency crews, local officials and Rocket Lab team briefed.
- 6 hours: Road to site closed-4 hours: Kerosene pumped into rocket
-2 hours 30 mins: Launch pad personnel leave site
- 2 hours: Liquid oxygen is added
-1 hour: Aircraft warned of pending launch
-2 minutes: Auto sequence starts and onboard computers initiate launch sequence
-2 seconds: Ignition of Rutherford engines powers first stage
0.00: Lift-off: Electron climbs from the launch pad
Powering into space
•The Electron rocket weighs more than 12 tonnes at lift-off - about the same as a double decker bus
•Its nine Rutherford engines produce enough thrust to lift that from a standing start
•Power to weight, it is the most powerful machine in New Zealand
•It will take about three seconds to clear the four-storey launch tower
•It will climb to more than 10,600m feet in a minute
•Once past the thicker parts of the atmosphere it will reach 27,000km/h
•Stage 1 of Electron separates after two and a half minutes
•After just over eight minutes Electron reaches orbit about 500km above the earth
•At eight and a half minutes payload separates from the launch vehicle
•It can carry a payload of up to 225kg
•Once in commercial operation launches will cost customers about $7.16m.
•All loads are licenced by international and NZ space authorities