Business / Technology

Rocket Lab to open launch window next week

07:30 am on 30 November 2017

New Zealand company Rocket Lab is set to launch its second test flight early next month, with a 10-day launch window opening next Friday.

Rocket Lab's latest test flight is almost ready to go. Photo: Supplied / Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab confirmed this morning it will attempt to launch its second Electron rocket, Still Testing, during the 10-day window from 8 December.

It follows a first test launch in May, as part of Rocket Lab's three-launch Electron test programme. The first rocket made it into space, although it failed to achieve orbit.

The December launch will be the first Electron launch to be live streamed:

The rocket, which will blast off from the launch complex on the Māhia Peninsula, will carry weather-mapping and ship-tracking satellites into space.

Rocket Lab's first test flight, in May, made it to space but failed to achieve orbit. Photo: Supplied / Rocket Lab