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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

Rocket Lab Launches 13 Cubesats on 1st Mission for NASA [space.com]

Rocket Lab's ramp-up is going well so far. The spaceflight startup launched 13 tiny satellites on its first-ever mission for NASA early this morning (Dec. 16), just a month after acing its first commercial flight.

A Rocket Lab Electron booster lifted off from the company's launch site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula at 1:33 a.m. EST today (0633 GMT and 7:33 p.m. local New Zealand time), kicking off the ELaNa-19 mission for NASA. Fifty-three minutes later, all of the payloads had separated from the Electron's "kick stage" and settled successfully into a circular orbit about 310 miles (500 kilometers) above Earth.

Educational Launch of Nanosatellites [wikipedia.org].

Also at Engadget [engadget.com].

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