Rocket Lab's First US Launch From Space.com's View
Space.com editor-in-chief was in attendance at NASA's Wallops Flight Center for the first launch of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket from US soil.
Credit: Space.com / Tariq Malik
Credit: Space.com / Tariq Malik
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TechTranscript
00:00 Hey space fans Tariq Malik with space.com. I'm here at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
00:05 where we're waiting for Rocket Lab's first US launch of an electron rocket. It's a gorgeous night
00:10 I'm not sure if you can see but we're minutes away from launch. Whoa
00:13 there's the moon and Jupiter and Venus. It's a little too early for Saturn, but we're
00:20 Just a few minutes away from the launch and I'm here with Alex
00:25 Mankiewicz? Mankiewicz. Mankiewicz.
00:28 Mankiewicz. Welcome to the inaugural electron launch from US soil. That's right. That's right
00:34 So we're just minutes away from this launch here. I'm gonna stay out of his way because he's taking some awesome photos and
00:39 Hopefully we're gonna get a good show. It's been a very smooth countdown all night long
00:46 Gorgeous sunset launch. That's the rocket right
00:49 over
00:51 There it's a little blurry in my my video feed, but hopefully we're gonna get a good shot
00:57 Oh
00:59 You can you can hear the rest of the media folks, let's see if I can get a shot that's the
01:03 reporters over here on top of the hill
01:07 Right here
01:13 There's the rest of the folks, there's an observatory dome there. Moon!
01:23 Moon!
01:25 All right, so
01:28 It's been a very smooth there was one issue up there it goes
01:36 Wow
01:38 Wow
01:40 Wow
01:42 Wow
01:44 Wow
01:46 Wow
01:48 Wow
01:50 Wow
01:52 Wow
01:54 Wow
01:56 Wow
01:58 Wow
02:00 Wow
02:28 The spectacular liftoff right there
02:30 It's so bright it was so loud
02:40 Oh, there's a plume Wow
02:49 Look at that plume right there
02:55 There's a little bit of exhaust
02:57 You can see there might be an exhaust plume that we could see as we go into night
03:03 We have the Virginia Beach camera up right now so you can see the view from there
03:07 But you may see an exhaust plume
03:09 Sunset with blue sky
03:11 Now this is Rocket Labs Virginia is for launch lovers a spectacular lift off you saw here from
03:16 Rocket Labs brand new US launch site their first ever
03:22 Launch from US soil looks to be going real real smooth
03:25 It's like there was a satellite way up above that just just passed overhead you can see that moving dot
03:36 You can still see it Wow
03:40 It's carrying three Hawkeye 360 radio reconnaissance satellites
03:51 For Hawkeye 360 they're a Virginia based company here in
03:56 In Virginia, although rocket lab is based up
04:00 So we had an engine cutoff right there
04:03 And there's second engine or second stage ignition
04:09 So you just saw that wink out right there that was stage separation
04:14 And you can still see it Wow it is still all going all the way up there
04:20 That is amazing
04:22 Launching right over Orion's shoulder
04:26 As it lifted off there you can see in my
04:31 In my camera phone you can see the stars of Orion. That's the belt right there in the middle
04:37 That is stunning still still visible
04:43 As it's moving
04:48 As it's making its way to orbit, we'll see if we can see second engine cutoff in a minute
04:55 How'd it look to you Alex
04:59 Yeah
05:17 That's great, well you can really see the plume now
05:21 Look at that exhaust plume Wow now it's crossing the shoulder of Orion. That's beetlejuice right there
05:37 There it goes
05:43 Wow
05:45 Wow that was stunning and you can still see it
05:58 Wow
06:08 You can see it it's right here
06:10 You can see it it's right here. Oh, that's the the second stage still on its way up doing its thing
06:24 We'll see if we can keep seeing it now you can really see Orion
06:38 Those three stars of its belt beetlejuice to the central left there
06:43 Forgiving for the grainy quality of my camera phone
07:06 Can't believe we can still see it
07:33 All right, it's getting a little hard to track now I
07:36 Think I'm gonna sign off for now and we're gonna see how it looks on the real feet video
07:44 We saw the rocket continue its orbit around the Earth. This mission is all about sending three different satellites. They're about the size of a microwave due to Earth's orbit from the company Hawkeye 360. What those are going to do, those are going to monitor radio frequency as they orbit the Earth.