Rocket Lab Launching 7 Satellites Early Saturday Morning: Watch Live

A Rocket Lab Electron booster on the launch pad in New Zealand ahead of the planned June 27 launch of the "Make It Rain" mission. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Spaceflight startup Rocket Lab will launch seven small satellites to orbit early Saturday morning (June 29), and you can watch the action live.

A Rocket Lab Electron booster is scheduled to lift off from the company's New Zealand launch site Saturday, during a two-hour window that opens at 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT; 4:30 p.m. local New Zealand time).

Saturday morning's launch, which was procured via Seattle-based company Spaceflight, will be the third Electron liftoff of the year and the seventh overall.

Rocket Lab gives all of its missions a light-hearted name, and this one is called "Make It Rain" — a reference to Spaceflight's famously damp home city. (New Zealand is pretty wet as well.)

Saturday's launch was originally scheduled for Thursday morning (June 27), but Rocket Lab pushed things back a day twice, to perform additional checks on ground equipment.

Editor's note: This story has been updated multiple times to provide new targeted launch times and dates.

Mike Wall's book about the search for alien life, "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), is out now. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.