Launches / Electron

Past launch Launched successfully

Don't Be Such A Square (STP-S30)

Electron, flown by Rocket Lab

Electron lifting off with the Don't Be Such A Square (STP-S30) mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was Rocket Lab's 20th launch of 2025, and its 78th in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 312th orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the fourth from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C).

Launched
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, 5:03 a.m. UTC
Window
Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025, 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. UTC
Launch site
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
Rocket
Electron
Operator
Rocket Lab
Weather
80% favorable

Watch the webcast →

The mission

STP-S30 is a complex mission that will deliver research experiments and technology demonstrations to orbit for the DoD and contribute to future space systems development. The projected primary payload, DISKSat, will demonstrate sustained very low earth orbit (VLEO) flight and test a unique, 1-meter diameter, disk-shaped satellite bus that is designed to increase on-orbit persistence.

Type
Technology
Destination
Low Earth orbit

The rocket

Electron is a two-stage orbital expendable launch vehicle (with an optional third stage) developed by the American aerospace company Rocket Lab. Electron is a small-lift launch vehicle designed to launch small satellites and cubesats to sun-synchronous orbit and low earth orbit. The Electron is the first orbital class rocket to use electric-pump-fed engines, powered by the 9 Rutherford engines on the first stage. It is also used as a suborbital testbed (called HASTE) for hypersonics research.

Height
18 m
Built by
Rocket Lab
First flew
May 25, 2017
Lifts to low Earth orbit
300 kg
View 4 specifications Show less
Diameter
1.2 m
Mass at liftoff
13 t
Thrust at liftoff
162 kN
Stages
2 to 3

93 flights, 89 of them successful. 7 boosters brought back from 9 attempts.

rocketlabusa.com → Wikipedia →

The operator

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab is an American aerospace manufacturer with a wholly owned New Zealand subsidiary. The company develops lightweight, cost-effective commercial rocket launch services. The Electron Program was founded on the premise that small payloads such as CubeSats require dedicated small launch vehicles and flexibility not currently offered by traditional rocket systems. Its rocket, the Electron, is a light-weight rocket and is now operating commercially. The company is also producing a variety of spacecrafts and spacecrafts components.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
USA
Founded
2006
Run by
Peter Beck, CEO

93 launches so far, 89 of them successful. The last 52 in a row went to plan.

rocketlabcorp.com → Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) at Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA.

See the pad on a map →

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