Successful Electron launch. Photon's HyperCurie engine will perform apogee raising burns around every 24 hours for five days, before a final burn on the sixth day to set CAPSTONE on a trans lunar injection
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Historical mission record
This page records Electron | CAPSTONE and its reported outcome: Launch Successful. The date above is a historical record.
Source record updated . This is a source update, not a confirmed launch time.
Check the source: Mission To The Moon ↗ · Launch Library ↗ · Flight Club ↗
Mission status
Launch Successful
Status reported by the mission data provider.
LAUNCH SITERocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
Mission
CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) is a 12-U cubesat mission to test operations in near rectiliniar halo orbit around the Moon, which is to be used for the Lunar Gateway space station. Mission will verify the near rectilinear halo orbit characteristics, spacecraft-to-spacecraft navigation services in that orbit, and provide valuable experience of small sat launch to the Moon.
- Launch vehicle
- Electron
- Mission type
- Planetary Science
- Destination orbit
- Lunar Orbit
- Launch pad
- Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B
- Provider
- Rocket Lab
- Recovery
- Expended, Booster expended during its first flight.
The vehicle
Published configuration and flight history.
Launch vehicle
Electron
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
- Diameter
- 1.2 m
- Stages
- 3
- Recorded launches
- 80
- First flight
- 2017-05-25
Core
27
Flight 1New
- Recovery
- South Pacific
- Landing method
- Expended
Recorded timing
This is a mission record, not an upcoming calendar appointment.
Instantaneous windowPublished target
SCHEDULED MOMENT
A single scheduled moment. The schedule may change before launch.
Launch site & orbit
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand
The mission in perspective
Launch site
DestinationLunar Orbit
Explore the launch pad on Earth using its published coordinates.
Explore Earth’s orbits
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Coverage & sources
Links supplied by the mission data provider.
Coverage and times may change.
Mission coverage
CAPSTONE Launch to the Moon (Official NASA Broadcast) ↗Explore on iPhone
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