Rocket Lab shares blast off after successful ocean retrieval - but what happened to those helicopter plans?

Rocket Lab shares surged 13.5 per cent to US$7.82 in late trading after a successful marine retrieval yesterday. The stock is now up 102 per cent for the year, if still 20 per cent below its August 2021 listing price.

The Kiwi-American firm is listed on the Nasdaq, but more than 20,000 New Zealanders have bought into its shares via fractional ownership sites like Sharesies and Stake.

The first stage of the Electron rocket for the “Baby Come Back” mission - which launched satellites for Nasa and commercial clients from Mahia yesterday afternoon - was fished out of the Pacific Ocean and put on a boat. It’s now on its way to Rocket Lab’s Auckland HQ to be assessed for possible reuse.

The first stage of a booster for Rocket Lab's "Baby Come Back" mission was retrieved from the Pacific Ocean after a launch from Pad B at Mahia.

For close watchers of the company, the success was relative.

Rocket Lab has retrieved a first-stage before - several times - but has yet to reuse a booster.

It hopes to do so by the end of this year.

“Today’s mission is a big deal, not just in NZ but internationally. We’re getting tantalisingly close to reusable rockets,” Rocket Lab communications director Morgan Bailey said late yesterday.

And whatever happened to Rocket Lab’s effort to snag an Electron first stage in mid-year, by helicopter, as it parachuted to Earth?

Founder and CEO Peter Beck has previously pitched a mid-air snatch as the best way to retrieve a rocket unscathed.

On May 3, a Sikorsky S-92 managed to hook the parachute line of the “There and Back Again” booster - only for the pilot to release it some 40 seconds later as it swung beneath the helicopter in an unstable fashion.

Now, it seems that will go down as the first and only attempt.

“We’ve fully committed to marine retrieval now as the stage comes back in such good condition from the water,” Bailey told the Herald.

It’s not as sexy as a mid-air snatch but, no matter. It’s working for Rocket Lab, and investors are wowed.

And a lot more wow is on the way with the company’s much larger rocket, due for launch next year - which will be fully reusable in the manner of SpaceX’s Falcon 9.

“Neutron is designed for propulsive landing,” Bailey said.

The US$55 million per launch rocket will land itself at its launch site in Virginia - which Rocket Lab says will eliminate the costs associated with the floating platforms initially used by Elon Musk’s Space X.

Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.