Rocket Lab launches Europe's 1st 2 'Celeste' navigation satellites (photos)

a black and white rocket launches into a dark night sky — A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches the “Daughter of the Stars” mission for the European Space Agency on March 28, 2026. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Rocket Lab launched two pioneering navigation satellites early on Saturday morning (March 28).

An Electron rocket carrying the first two satellites for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Celeste navigation constellation lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site on Saturday at 5:14 a.m. EDT (0914 GMT; 10:14 p.m. local New Zealand time).

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A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches the &ldquo;Daughter of the Stars&rdquo; mission for the European Space Agency on March 28, 2026. — A closeup of the Electron's first-stage engines during the "Daughter of the Stars" mission. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)

Celeste is Europe's first satellite-navigation effort in low Earth orbit (LEO).

The initiative "will demonstrate how a complementary layer flying closer to Earth can enhance Europe’s current Galileo system in medium Earth orbit (MEO), boosting the overall resilience, enhancing its performance and opening opportunities for new service capabilities directly from LEO," ESA officials wrote in a description of the launch.

The first phase of the Celeste program will loft a demonstration constellation of 11 satellites. The satellites that went up on Saturday are the first two of that group.

"Daughter of the Stars" was the 78th launch to date for the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron. Rocket Lab has also flown seven missions with a suborbital version of the vehicle called HASTE, which customers use primarily to test hypersonic technologies.

Rocket Lab initially planned to launch the mission on March 24, but the weather did not cooperate.

Editor's note: This story was updated at 4:10 p.m. ET on April 1 with news of successful launch and satellite deployment.

Michael Wall is the Spaceflight and Tech Editor for Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers human and robotic spaceflight, military space, and exoplanets, 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.