"Greg \(Strider\) Moore" wrote:

"Fred J. McCall" wrote in message
.. .

wrote:


"Rocket Lab, a California-based spaceflight company with its roots in New
Zealand,
just launched its two-stage Electron rocket for the first time. The small
launch
vehicle successfully lifted off from Rocket Lab's Launch Complex 1 on the
Mahia
Peninsula of New Zealand at 12:20 a.m. ET on Thursday May 25—4:20 p.m. New
Zealand
time. The successful liftoff marks the first time an orbital-class rocket
has been
launched from a private launch facility."

See:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/spac...-first-flight/


It did not, however, reach orbit and it was expected to, so there's a
failure investigation going on.



Huh, thought it had, but not the desired orbit. Either way, someone's got a
lot of 'spaining to do.


Nope. It got to 'space' (which is an altitude thing), but it didn't
achieve orbit.


--
"I was lucky in the order. But I've always been lucky
when it comes to killin' folks."
-- William Munny, "Unforgiven"