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
00:00Hey Space Fans! Tarek Malek with Space.com. I'm here at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility
00:05where we're waiting for Rocket Lab's first US launch of an electron rocket.
00:09It's a gorgeous night. I'm not sure if you can see but we're minutes away from launch.
00:13Whoa! There's the moon and Jupiter and Venus. It's a little too early for
00:19Saturn but we're just a few minutes away from the launch and I'm here with Alex
00:26Mankiewicz. Welcome to the inaugural electron launch from US soil.
00:33That's right, that's right. So we're just minutes away from this launch here. I'm
00:37gonna stay out of his way because he's taking some awesome photos and hopefully
00:42we're gonna get a good show. It's been a very smooth countdown all night long.
00:47Gorgeous sunset launch. That's the rocket right over there. It's a little blurry in
00:53my my video feed but hopefully we're gonna get a good shot.
00:59Oh you can you can hear the rest of the media folks. Let's see if I can get a shot.
01:03That's the the reporters over here on top of the hill.
01:11Right here.
01:14So here we are tonight. There's the rest of the folks. There's an observatory dome
01:21there. Moon! All right. So it's been a very smooth. There was one issue. Oh there it
01:36goes.
02:06It's a spectacular liftoff right there.
02:37It's so bright and it was so loud.
02:46Oh there's a plume. Wow. Look at that plume right there.
03:07Now this is Rocket Lab's Virginia is for launch lovers. A spectacular liftoff you
03:15saw here from Rocket Lab's brand new US launch site. Their first ever launch from
03:23US soil. Looks to be going real real smooth.
03:30It's like there was a satellite way up above that just just passed overhead. You
03:35can see that moving dot. You can still see it. Wow.
03:45It's carrying three Hawkeye 360 radio reconnaissance satellites for Hawkeye 360.
03:53They're a Virginia based company here in in Virginia. Although Rocket Lab is based
04:00up. So we had an engine cutoff right there. And there's second engine or
04:08second stage ignition. So you just saw that wink out right there. That was stage
04:13separation. And you can still see it. Wow. It is still all going all the way up
04:19there.
04:24That is amazing. Launching right over Orion's shoulder as it lifted off there.
04:33You can see in my in my camera phone you can see the stars of Orion. That's the
04:39belt right there in the middle. That is stunning. Still still visible as it's
04:49making its way to orbit. We'll see if we can see a second engine cutoff in a
04:54minute. How'd it look to you, Alex?
05:17That's great. Wow, you can really see the plume now.
05:24Look at that exhaust plume. Wow. Now it's crossing the shoulder of Orion. That's
05:36Betelgeuse right there.
05:41There it goes.
05:44Wow. That was stunning. And you can still see it.
06:05Wow.
06:15You can see it. It's right here. Oh, that's the the second stage still on its
06:22way up. Doing its thing.
06:33We'll see if we can keep seeing it. Now you can really see Orion. Those three
06:39stars of its belt. Betelgeuse to the central left there.
06:48Forgive me for the grainy quality of my camera phone.
06:53I can't believe we can still see it, Alex.
07:23This is the first time Rocket Lab has launched this rocket from U.S. soil. The rocket is about 50 feet tall when it's fully stacked, about three feet in diameter.
07:33Alright, it's getting a little hard to track now. I think I'm gonna sign off for
07:39now and we're gonna see how it looks on the real feed, the video feed.
07:53This is the size of a microwave from the company Contact 360.
07:59What those are going to do, those are going to monitor radio frequency as they orbit the planet.