Rocket Lab Delays Electron Launch Due to High Winds

By Tariq Malik
published

The launch is now set for Monday, Aug. 19.

A Rocket Lab Electron rocket stands at Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula during fueling operations for launch on Aug. 17, 2019 local time (Aug. 16 EDT/GMT). The launch was delayed by high winds.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket stands at Launch Complex 1 on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula during fueling operations for launch on Aug. 17, 2019 local time (Aug. 16 EDT/GMT). The launch was delayed by high winds. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

The private spaceflight company Rocket Lab postponed the launch of an Electron rocket carrying four small satellites Friday (Aug. 16) due to high winds at the booster's New Zealand launch site. 

Rocket Lab initially hoped to launch the Electron's mission, called "Look Ma, No Hands," from the Māhia Peninsula during a 100-minute window that opened at 8:57 a.m. EDT (1257 GMT), but ground winds were just too strong. 

"We are standing down from today's launch attempt due to weather. Surface level winds are 30% over limit," Rocket Lab representatives wrote in a Twitter update. "We have plenty of back up opportunities in the coming days though. A new target launch day/time will be advised soon."

Rocket Lab is targeting a launch on Monday (Aug. 19) at 8:12 a.m. EDT (1212 GMT). The Huntington Beach, California-based company has a 14-day window in which to launch the mission.

The upcoming launch will mark the eighth flight of a Rocket Lab Electron, a 57-foot tall (15 meters) booster designed to launch small satellites into low-Earth orbit. The rocket is optimized to launch payloads of up 500 lbs. (227 kilograms), and can haul multiple tiny, boxy cubesats at a time. There are four cubesats riding aboard the "Look Ma, No Hands" mission. 

Electron's payload includes an ocean-monitoring cubesat for the French company UnseenLabs, which aims to build a network of the "maritime surveillance" satellites for customers on Earth. Another Earth-imaging satellite, the BlackSky Global-4, is also part of a growing satellite network for the Seattle-based company BlackSky. 

The final two cubesats are prototypes built for the U.S. Air Force Space Command to test new technologies in orbit. 

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include the new launch date for Rocket Lab's "Look Ma, No Hands" mission.

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Tariq Malik
Tariq Malik
Editor-in-Chief

Tariq is the Editor-in-Chief of Space.com and joined the team in 2001, first as an intern and staff writer, and later as an editor. He covers human spaceflight, exploration and space science, as well as skywatching and entertainment. He became Space.com's Managing Editor in 2009 and Editor-in-Chief in 2019. Before joining Space.com, Tariq was a staff reporter for The Los Angeles Times covering education and city beats in La Habra, Fullerton and Huntington Beach. In October 2022, Tariq received the Harry Kolcum Award for excellence in space reporting from the National Space Club Florida Committee. He is also an Eagle Scout (yes, he has the Space Exploration merit badge) and went to Space Camp four times as a kid and a fifth time as an adult. He has journalism degrees from the University of Southern California and New York University. You can find Tariq at Space.com and as the co-host to the This Week In Space podcast with space historian Rod Pyle on the TWiT network. To see his latest project, you can follow Tariq on Twitter @tariqjmalik.