Rocket Lab – Electron – Owl By The Dozen – LC 1 – Mahia, Neuseeland – 19. September 2026

Video from the channel SPACE AFFAIRS about Electron, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 38:12. Language: English. Video type: Livestream.

Broadcast of the launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on the "Owl By The Dozen" mission, from pad B of Launch Complex 1, on the Mahia Peninsula (New Zealand), narrated from the company's mission control center in Auckland. Liftoff was scheduled for 15:22 local time (03:22 UTC). It was the 17th Electron of the year and the 12th dedicated mission for the Japanese company Synspective, which is deploying a constellation of StriX synthetic-aperture radar satellites capable of imaging day, night and through clouds for urban planning, infrastructure monitoring and disaster response. Rocket Lab has been its sole launch provider for six years and has another 15 StriX satellites under contract before 2030. The target was a 572 km orbit with a perigee of 536 km and an inclination of 38°.

During the countdown the vehicle is reviewed: 18 m tall, 1.2 m in diameter and a carbon-composite structure; empty it weighs about 1,000 kg, and loaded with liquid oxygen and kerosene that mass multiplies thirteenfold. The first stage carries nine 3D-printed Rutherford engines, with pumps driven by battery-powered electric motors, which exhaust their tanks in about two and a half minutes; the second stage has a single Rutherford running for a little over six and a half minutes, until exceeding 27,000 km/h. On top sits the kick stage with the restartable Curie engine. At T-12 minutes the launch director runs the "go/no-go" poll, with all stations clear; at T-2 minutes the automatic sequence starts, the rocket switches to internal power and the autonomous flight termination system is enabled. After liftoff, maximum dynamic pressure is passed (over 17 km altitude and 1,900 km/h at T+1:08), followed by first-stage shutdown, separation, second-stage ignition, payload fairing jettison and the second stage's hot-swap of batteries.

Second-stage shutdown is confirmed, along with a nominal transfer orbit and separation of the kick stage with the satellite. About 40 minutes later a Curie engine burn was planned to circularize the orbit, followed by StriX deployment.