Rocket Lab’s 1st US launch may be visible along East Coast

A Rocket Lab Electron booster launches 34 satellites to orbit on the “There And Back Again” mission on May 2, 2022.
You might be able to catch a glimpse of Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket this week even if you can’t attend the launch.
Rocket Lab’s first-ever mission from U.S. soil will light up the skies for much of the East Coast when it launches from NASA’s Wallops Island facility in Virginia Friday (Dec. 16). The California-based company has been lofting small satellites to orbit successfully from New Zealand since 2018 and is now set for its first mission from its new U.S. launch pad.
Ahead of the launch, NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility released a visibility map that shows where and when residents of the East Coast can expect to see the Electron launch. The mission is slated for a two-hour window beginning at 6 p.m. EST (2300 GMT) on Friday (Dec. 16). “For those along the East Coast, weather permitting, you may catch a glimpse of Electron’s flight. From a distance, Electron will appear like a bright, fast-moving star in the sky,” NASA Wallops wrote on Twitter (opens in new tab).
Related: Rocket Lab now aims to launch 1st Electron booster from US soil on Dec. 16
David Pierce, director of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said during a briefing on Wednesday (Dec. 14) that the launch should provide a great skywatching opportunity.
“We routinely have folks be able to clearly see our launches from rooftops in the Washington, D.C. area, from Norfolk and also from Philadelphia. So it’s going to be a great show,” Pierce said.
“And being that it’s going to be a night launch, we’ll make sure everybody knows there’s no UFOs — that we’re launching a rocket from Wallops,” Piece added.
As seen on NASA Wallops’ visibility map, the launch should be visible from Maine down to Georgia, and even as far west as Ohio (as long as weather conditions are clear). The farther one is away from Wallops Island, the longer after launch the rocket should be visible.
For example, viewers in Richmond, Virginia should be able to see the rocket between 60 and 90 seconds after launch; viewers in Ohio, meanwhile, should expect to catch a glimpse between 150 and 180 seconds after launch.
A visibility map for the planned Dec. 16, 2022 Rocket Lab launch, released by NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Virginia. (Image credit: NASA)
The mission, named “Virginia is for Launch Lovers” (Virginia’s tourism slogan is “Virginia is for lovers”), was originally scheduled for Dec. 9 but has been postponed multiple times due to weather and ongoing regulation issues with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Rocket Lab’s first U.S. launch will loft six HawkEye 360 satellites, which are designed to gather data on radiofrequency transmissions and map their locations. HawkEye 360’s customers include the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which is tasked with collecting satellite intelligence and sharing it with the U.S. intelligence community and military intelligence groups at the Pentagon. The company has been granted FAA permits to launch up to 80 satellites through 2034, according to SpaceNews (opens in new tab).
“We’re ready on the pad at LC-2 [Launch Complex 2] with Electron and @hawkeye360, but with unfavorable weather on the way, plus NASA and FAA working to close out final documentation, we are now targeting no earlier than Dec. 16th for launch,” Rocket Lab stated on Twitter on Tuesday (Dec. 14).