Rocket Lab back in action after getting green light for launches

Back in action: Electron on the pad at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 prior to the last launch on May 15. Picture supplied

Rocket Lab is back in action after receiving authorisation from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to resume launches.

The approval comes less than three weeks after Rocket Lab experienced an anomaly during its 20th launch from Mahia, resulting in the loss of the mission.

The company said while the FAA confirmed Rocket Lab's launch licence remained active, Rocket Lab would continue with an internal review into the anomaly.

“With a vehicle with so much flight history and our heavy mission assurance and quality focus, any anomaly was always going to be a complex failure and this one is turning out to be an intricate and layered failure analysis,” Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck said.

“However, we have successfully replicated the failure in testing and determined it required multiple conditions to occur in flight.

“We are now piecing together the sequence of events and preparing corrective actions for a safe and swift return to flight.”

Flight data showed Electron's first stage performed flawlessly during the mission and did not contribute to the flight issue.

The mission saw Rocket Lab achieve the next major milestone in making Electron a reusable launch vehicle, with the successful ocean splashdown of Electron's first stage as planned.

Rocket Lab's recovery team retrieved the stage from the ocean for transport back to Rocket Lab's production complex for analysis and testing to inform future recovery missions.

The company intends to conduct its third recovery mission later this year.