![]() As he begins speaking, the dozens of guests are distracted by the gleaming launch vehicle and the sight of Orbital Sciences engineers in hard hats waving from the work levels of the 127-foot-high gantry. The next day-today-the structure will ease away from the pad to enable the launch of the Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). September 2013: As Dale Nash takes his position to speak to a gaggle of space press, corporate VIPs, and social media guests, he has a dramatic backdrop: About 50 feet behind him stands a stark white 80-foot rocket loaded with a lunar orbiter and tucked inside a rectangular building but visible through massive, open doors. Now it has a new tenant in the form of Rocket Lab, which is looking to be able to launch it's Proton rocket from not only New Zealand but also the U.S.A., allowing the company to launch more frequently. NASA swooped in to bring Wallops back to life, and the spaceport was soon up and running again. In 2014, an uncrewed Orbital Antares rocket headed to resupply the International Space Station blew up and caused millions of dollars of damage to Wallops. As we wrote in this piece back in 2013, the place had a long history in launch as the oldest continuous rocket launch range in the United States, but nearly shuttered in the 1990s. It's been a down-and-then-up last five years for Wallops Island. The company cited the relatively quiet nature of Wallops as an appealing fact, whereas SpaceX and others are busy upping their launch schedules at some of those other sites. Wallops won out over finalists Vandenberg Air Force Base (California), the Pacific Spaceport Complex (Alaska), and Cape Canaveral (Florida). But now more: The company said it plans on conducting that first launch from LC-2 in December 2022, followed by a second mission just a few weeks later at the beginning of the new year.October 17, 2018: Rocket Lab, the New Zealand-based launch startup, just announced Wallops Island, Virginia as its choice for a site to launch rockets from the U.S. Until now, the company has been vague at best about when an Electron might take off from the Virginia site. Again, a sensible decision: Wallops is also home to Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2, its site for Electron rocket launches. The company announced way back in February that it had selected Wallops as the location for Neutron’s first launch site and manufacturing and operations facilities. Rocket Lab will also be bringing a substantial amount of investment and activity to Wallops Island, Virginia. Rocket Lab will still have to build out the test complex, though, and that’s where the capital investment will come in handy. NASA has tons of infrastructure and test stands already in place for engine testing, so it’s sensible (not to mention economically wise) for a private company to secure space at the center. Many companies have conducted engine tests at Stennis in the past, including SpaceX for its Raptor engine and Relativity Space for its Aeon engine. This one likely isn’t too much of a surprise. Image Credits: Rocket Lab (opens in a new window) The company also secured a non-disclosed amount of capital investment from the Mississippi Development Authority to further build out infrastructure for Neutron’s reusable engines. The company secured a 10-year lease for an Archimedes Test Complex at the center, with an option to extend the lease for another 10 years. Expanding presence in North Americaīefore the Investor Day event even began, Rocket Lab kicked off Wednesday morning with news: It will test the Neutron rocket’s Archimedes engines at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. While the event livestream hit a technical snafu, Rocket Lab shared all the updates in a long tweet thread concurrent with the event ( read it here). ![]() The company shared the news with investors and the general public during Rocket Lab’s Investor Day. ![]() home to even a greater share of launches, testing and manufacturing. While the company has been public about its plans to expand to both hemispheres for a while, executives released a slew of updates on Wednesday detailing their goal to make the U.S. Rocket Lab is a U.S.-based company, but until now the bulk of its activities have been conducted in New Zealand. ![]()
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