Launches / HASTE

Past launch Launched successfully

Prometheus Run (VAN)

HASTE, flown by Rocket Lab

HASTE lifting off with the Prometheus Run (VAN) mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was Rocket Lab's 17th launch of 2025, and its 75th in all.

It was the third launch from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 (Launch Area 0 C) in 2025.

Launched
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, 1:00 p.m. UTC
Window
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025, 12:45 to 6:00 p.m. UTC
Launch site
Wallops Flight Facility, Virginia, USA
Rocket
Electron
Operator
Rocket Lab

Watch the webcast →

The mission

Sub-orbital launch under Rocket Lab’s Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program. This mission was lead by MDA and deployed a government-provided primary payload developed by the John Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL), and multiple secondary payloads by federal and industry partners, which tested key technologies for missile defense applications. The mission was contracted to Rocket Lab through the DIU’s Hypersonic and High-Cadence Airborne Testing Capabilities (HyCAT) program, an initiative supporting test and evaluation of new and emerging hypersonic technologies through low cost, responsive and long endurance flight testing.

Type
Government/top secret
Destination
Suborbital

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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