IN·04 · United States & New Zealand · Founded 2006

Rocket Lab — the one that flies often

Founded 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand by Peter Beck. Long Beach, California headquartered. Nasdaq-listed (RKLB). Electron is the second most-frequently launched US orbital rocket — 77+ successful flights, three launch pads across two continents. Neutron reusable medium-lift is in development, first flight targeted late 2026.

Auckland to Mahia

Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 on the Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand — Electron on the pad — **Launch Complex 1** — Rocket Lab's original launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, North Island, New Zealand, with an Electron on the pad. LC-1 now hosts two pads. Credit: Rocket Lab · CC BY-SA 2.0 See full resolution ↗

Rocket Lab was founded in 2006 in Auckland, New Zealand, by Peter Beck. The company built its first orbital launch site — Launch Complex 1 — on the Mahia Peninsula on New Zealand's North Island, and later moved its corporate headquarters to Long Beach, California.

The company's first vehicle, Electron, is a two-stage small-lift launcher burning liquid oxygen and kerosene. Its Rutherford engine was the first flight-proven engine to use a battery-fed electric-pump architecture in place of a conventional gas-generator turbopump. Primary structural parts and the pump housings are 3D-printed.

The maiden flight, It's a Test, launched on 25 May 2017 and reached space but not orbit. The second flight, Still Testing, launched on 21 January 2018 and became Rocket Lab's first orbital success.

Founded2006 · Auckland, NZ

Founder & CEOSir Peter Beck

HeadquartersLong Beach, California

First orbital success21 Jan 2018 · Still Testing

The workhorse

Since the 2018 debut, Electron has become the second most-frequently launched US orbital rocket. By late February 2026 it had completed 77 successful flights and delivered more than 190 satellites to orbit. Cadence: 21 launches in 2025, six in the first quarter of 2026.

Electron flies from three pads — two at LC-1 on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand, and a third (LC-2 / Launch Pad 0C) at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's eastern shore. LC-2 supports both orbital Electron flights and the sub-orbital HASTE variant (Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron) used for hypersonic test payloads.

Electron lifting off from LC-1 in New Zealand carrying NASA's CAPSTONE lunar CubeSat, June 2022 — **Electron, CAPSTONE mission** — 28 June 2022 launch from LC-1 in New Zealand carrying NASA's CAPSTONE lunar CubeSat. A Rocket Lab Photon third stage placed CAPSTONE on a trans-lunar trajectory. Credit: Rocket Lab · CC BY-SA 4.0 See full resolution ↗

Ribbon-cutting ceremony at Launch Pad 0D, Wallops Island, August 2025 — **LC-2 / Pad 0D, Wallops** — ribbon-cutting for the new pad at NASA Wallops Flight Facility, 28 August 2025. Adds a third Electron / HASTE pad to Rocket Lab's launch cadence. Credit: NASA · CC BY 4.0 See full resolution ↗

Long-exposure image of a Rocket Lab HASTE launch from Wallops in February 2026 — **HASTE, Feb 2026** — long-exposure of a Rocket Lab HASTE launch from Wallops, February 2026 — the first Wallops flight of 2026. Credit: NASA / Danielle Johnson · public domain See full resolution ↗

Neutron

Rocket Lab team at NASA Stennis Space Center for Archimedes engine testing — **Archimedes at Stennis** — Rocket Lab leadership at NASA's Stennis Space Center, where the Archimedes engine is being hot-fired. First hot-fire test, August 2024, reached 102 % of rated power on the first attempt. Credit: NASA · public domain See full resolution ↗

Announced in 2021, Neutron is Rocket Lab's reusable medium-lift launcher — a Falcon 9-class response with a carbon-composite structure and a distinctive fairing (nicknamed Hungry Hippo) that stays attached to the booster, opening in flight to release the second stage and closing again for reuse.

Neutron's first stage is powered by nine Archimedes engines — Rocket Lab's own oxidiser-rich staged-combustion engine burning liquid oxygen and liquid methane. Total first-stage thrust is approximately 1.45 million lbf. First hot-fire testing of Archimedes at NASA's Stennis Space Center in August 2024 reached 102 % of rated power on the first attempt.

Neutron's first flight was originally targeted for mid-2025 and has since moved to late 2026. Full cadence is projected in the 2027–2028 window.

Announced2021

Payload to LEO13,000 kg (reusable)

First-stage engines9 × Archimedes · LOX / methane

First flight targetLate 2026

The commercial layer

Rocket Lab listed on the Nasdaq (ticker RKLB) in August 2021 through a SPAC merger with Vector Acquisition. First-quarter 2026 revenue was $200.3 million, up 63 % year-over-year, with GAAP gross margin of 38.2 % and a contracted backlog of $2.22 billion at quarter-end. Cash and marketable securities stood at $1.48 billion, boosted by roughly $445 million raised through an at-the-market equity programme in the quarter (on top of about $1.1 billion raised in 2025).

A GAAP net loss of $45 million in the quarter reflects heavy ongoing investment in Neutron development, Archimedes qualification, the Wallops LC-2 build-out and the acquired Motiv Space Systems business.

Space systems and interplanetary

Beyond launch, Rocket Lab operates a growing Space Systems business that today drives the majority of company revenue. Product lines include the Photon satellite bus (derived from the Electron kick stage; carried NASA's CAPSTONE CubeSat to a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the Moon in 2022), solar-cell manufacturing through the SolAero acquisition, reaction wheels, separation systems and spacecraft structures.

The 2025 acquisition of Motiv Space Systems extends this into interplanetary robotics — Mars landers, robotic arms, deep-space instruments — and positions the company for the NASA Mars Transition Network programme.

European expansion is underway: satellite production capacity in Germany, and a planned launch presence at the Andøya Spaceport in Norway.