Rocket Lab launched a rocket into the lunar orbit on Tuesday after a series of minor delays.
The Electron rocket took off from a base on the Mahia Peninsula near Gisborne, as scheduled at 9:55 pm.
Rocket Lab said it is one of the smallest orbital rockets that attempt to launch a spacecraft into lunar orbit prior to launch.
In the Capstone mission, a rocket puts a small satellite into orbit around the Moon and orbits towards NASA. This hopes that the US space agency will be a step towards the later launch of the manned lunar space station and further missions to the moon and, in some cases, Mars. ..
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The launches of the Electron rocket and Photon spacecraft, which carry the Capstone satellite on a three-and-a-half-month journey to the Moon, have been delayed several times since May 31, including software updates.
The company said the final delay from Monday night would be to enable a “final system check.”
However, Gisborne’s evening forecast remains promising, with weak winds and sunny weather.
Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck said earlier this month that the “Māhia to Moon Launch” would be a historic moment.
“This is a mission that every New Zealander can and should be proud of. We go to the moon, so few countries can say that.”
supply
Rocket Lab will be shooting towards the moon on Tuesday night.
The Ministry of Business Science and Innovation (MBIE) said on Monday that it helped promote separate research agreements between NASA and scholars at the University of Canterbury, the University of Auckland, and the University of New South Wales.
A team led by Associate Professor Stephen Weddel of the University of Canterbury will track Capstone and attempt to predict its orbital path from the Tekapo and Canberra Observatory.
According to Johnson, MBIE was involved because NASA wanted a relationship with the government in the research agreement, but was not involved in the funding arrangements.
He said NASA’s Artemis Moon program has a budget of about US $ 30 billion (New Zealand $ 47 billion).
“Hopefully this is the beginning of what could be a bigger collaboration.”