The vehicle started losing speed and it dropped in altitude
Rocket Labs 13th mission to space ended in failure on Saturday, after the companys rocket experienced some kind of problem after launching to space. As a result, Rocket Lab lost its rocket, as well as all the satellites it carried on board.
The companys Electron rocket successfully took off at 5:19PM ET from Rocket Labs primary launch facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. The launch seemed to proceed just fine for the first crucial minutes, but about six minutes into the launch, live video from the rocket stalled. At that point, Rocket Labs livestream indicated that the rocket started to lose speed and drop in altitude.
The company eventually cut the livestream. Afterward, Rocket Lab revealed that the Electron rocket had been lost during flight.
An issue was experienced today during Rocket Lab’s launch that caused the loss of the vehicle. We are deeply sorry to the customers on board Electron. The issue occurred late in the flight during the 2nd stage burn. More information will be provided as it becomes available.
Rocket Lab (@RocketLab) July 4, 2020
Rocket Labs CEO Peter Beck apologized for the failure on Twitter. I am incredibly sorry that we failed to deliver our customers satellites today, he tweeted. Rest assured we will find the issue, correct it and be back on the pad soon.
The mission, named Pics Or It Didnt Happen, carried mostly Earth-imaging small satellites. The primary payload was Canon Electronics CE-SAT-IB, designed to demonstrate Earth-imaging technology with high-resolution and wide-angle cameras. The rocket also carried five SuperDove satellites from the company Planet, also designed to image Earth from above. The last payload was a small satellite called Faraday-1, from In-Space Missions, which hosted multiple instruments from startups and other organizations that needed a ride to space.
Up until now, Rocket Lab has put 53 spacecraft into low Earth orbit so far on 12 separate missions, with this weekends launch the third for Rocket Lab this year.
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