Rocket Labs second launch site is now complete, with its first mission set for next year

Small satellite launcher Rocket Lab unveiled the company’s second launch site this morning — a just-finished pad built at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island in Virginia. Dubbed Launch Complex 2, the location will be used along with Rocket Lab’s primary launch site in New Zealand to up the frequency of the company’s launches in the years ahead. That way, operators of small satellites have more options for how to get their payloads into orbit.

Since it started launching rockets in 2017, Rocket Lab has flown 10 flights so far with its Electron rocket, which is a relatively small vehicle standing at just 55 feet tall. Its purpose is to loft relatively small payloads into low orbits above Earth, capitalizing on the recent...

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