A Rocket Lab Electron rocket nearly took off from the company’s launch facility in New Zealand on Dec. 11, but launch was aborted seconds before takeoff.
The private spaceflight company Rocket Lab aborted a scheduled test launch of its small-scale Electron rocket today (Dec. 11), just 2 seconds before liftoff.
At Rocket Lab’s private launch facility in New Zealand, the countdown clock had nearly reached zero when a white puff of smoke erupted from the bottom of the Electron rocket — but then, the clock stopped, and the rocket failed to rise off the ground. The launch was abruptly halted at 10:50 p.m. EST on Dec. 11 (0350 GMT), which is 4:50 p.m. New Zealand Time on Dec. 12.
“After reviewing the telemetry and data, and time remaining in our launch window, the team has decided to wave-off for the rest of the day,” Daniel Gillies, Rocket Lab’s mission management and integration director, said during a live webcast on the company’s website.
This is the second test launch of Rocket Lab’s small-scale Electron rocket ; the first test flight took place in May. This test — which the company has named “Still Testing” — has a 10-day launch window that opened on Dec. 7. Poor weather conditions have delayed a launch attempt until today.
Follow Calla Cofield @callacofield .Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com .
Comments are closed.