Status
Failure
It's a Test
Thu May 25, 2017 04:20 UTC
Maiden flight of the Electron rocket. The rocket performed nominally but was destroyed during second stage flight by the flight termination system after telemetry was lost. The blame was placed on a ground-based tracking station. First orbital flight attempt from New Zealand.
Rocket
Mission Details
Humanity Star
Humanity Star is a highly reflective polyhedron launched on the It's a Test and Still Testing maiden flights of the Electron rocket. It was designed and built by Rocket Lab specifically for this mission.
It is a bright, blinking satellite orbiting Earth, visible to the naked eye in the night sky. The Humanity Star is designed to encourage everyone to look up and consider our place in the universe.
Created by Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck, the Humanity Star is a geodesic sphere made from carbon fibre with 65 highly reflective panels. It spins rapidly, reflecting the sun’s rays back to Earth, creating a flashing light that can be seen against a backdrop of stars.