"an earnings call on Monday, Rocket Lab chief executive Pete Beck announced that the company's medium-lift launch vehicle, Neutron, would not launch this year. For anyone with the slightest understanding of the challenges involved in bringing a new rocket to the launch pad, as well as a calendar, the delay does not come as a surprise. Although Rocket Lab had been holding on to the possibility of launching Neutron this year publicly, it has been clear for months that a slip into 2026 was inevitable."
""We've seen what happens when others rush to the pad with an unproven product, and we just refused to do that," he said, referring to other commercial launch companies that have not had success with their first launches. "Our aim is to make it to orbit on the first try. You won't see us using some qualifier about us just clearing the pad, and claiming success and whatnot,""
Neutron's maiden launch has been delayed past this year, with the vehicle scheduled to be brought to Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia during the first quarter of next year and the first launch planned thereafter. The program prioritizes extensive ground testing and assembly validation to detect and correct issues before flight. The development approach leverages experience from the smaller Electron rocket and in-space vehicle work to increase first-flight success. The schedule slip into 2026 reflects deliberate avoidance of arbitrary deadlines and the intent to reach orbit on the inaugural launch by resolving problems on the ground during a meaty testing phase.
Read at Ars Technica
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