Rocket Lab launches its 1st mission of 2026, sending 2 satellites to orbit

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"The Cosmos Will See You Now" was Rocket Lab's 80th launch to date.

a black and white rocket launches into a night sky
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches two satellites for the European company Open Cosmos from New Zealand on Jan. 22, 2026. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab just launched its first mission of 2026.

An Electron rocket carrying two satellites for the European company Open Cosmos lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site today (Jan. 22) at 5:52 a.m. EST (1052 GMT; 11:52 p.m. local time in New Zealand).

Today's launch was Rocket Lab's first dedicated mission for Open Cosmos, a company that designs, builds and operates satellites and also offers data-sharing and data-analysis services.

"Our approach not only dramatically lowers the costs, complexity and timescales of missions, but it also simplifies access to EO [Earth observation] data in a way that removes the barriers for all companies —even non-space customers — to address society’s most urgent challenges," Open Cosmos' website reads.

This morning's mission, which Rocket Lab called "The Cosmos Will See You Now," sent up the first two satellites in Open Cosmos' planned telecom constellation in low Earth orbit.

"This new constellation complements the already-in-orbit satellites that deliver high-resolution imagery and global monitoring capabilities, supporting a wide range of applications and providing valuable metadata for diverse uses," Rocket Lab said in an emailed statement after the launch.

"The Cosmos Will See You Now" was Rocket Lab's 80th overall to date. The vast majority have been conducted by the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron, which gives small satellites dedicated rides to Earth orbit and beyond.

Rocket Lab has also conducted a handful of missions with HASTE, a suborbital version of Electron that allows customers to test hypersonic technologies in the space environment.

Rocket Lab launched 21 missions in 2025, which set a new record for the company. Its previous high, set in 2024, was 16.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

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.

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