By Joey Roulette
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rocket Lab on Tuesday said it was poised to launch its Electron rocket as soon as Dec. 15, carrying a Japanese satellite in what would mark the rocket’s first flight since suffering a mission failure in September.
The company’s workhorse Electron rocket failed during its 41st mission in September as it was carrying a satellite from synthetic-aperture radar firm Capella Space toward orbit. It was Rocket Lab’s first mission failure in over two years.
Electron’s first mission since the failure, Rocket Lab said on Tuesday, is set for liftoff as early as Friday from its primary launch pad in New Zealand. The company said it will attempt to recover the booster as part of its bid to reuse rockets.
“We have back up opportunities through December should we need to stand down for any reason,” the company said.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck has previously said the September failure was caused by an “unexpected electrical arc” in the rocket’s upper stage, and the company announced plans to resume Electron launches in November.
A review of Rocket Lab’s failure investigation by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees launchsite safety and commercial rocket mishaps, remains open, a spokesman for the agency said on Tuesday.
But Rocket Lab received FAA approval to continue Electron flights in October.
The FAA spokesman said Rocket Lab “presented sufficient information developed during the ongoing mishap investigation for the FAA to make a positive public safety determination” on allowing the company to resume flights.
(Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)
