WASHINGTON – Rocket Lab launched a radar-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on June 26, after the flight was delayed due to a reactive space mission.
The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in eastern New Zealand at 1:43 p.m. on a mission dubbed “10 of 10 Owls” by the company. The payload, a Strix satellite, separated from the rocket’s kick stage 56 minutes later into a 552-kilometer orbit inclined at 42 degrees.
This launch was the 10th Electron mission carrying a synoptic satellite. The Japanese company has relied exclusively on Electron to deploy its satellites and has contracts for 17 more Electron launches. Synspective also has agreements to launch seven spacecraft on future SpaceX rideshare missions.
The launch was scheduled for early June 17. However, Rocket Lab said late on June 16 that the launch date was “being adjusted to allow for additional checkouts prior to launch,” without elaborating.
Instead, Rocket Lab performed a responsive launch mission for the US Space Force’s Victus Haze program. The launch took place on June 19 from Launch Complex 1, but it took more than 72 hours for the Space Force or Rocket Lab to announce the launch. There were no eyewitness reports of the launch from remote space, although the payload and upper stage from the launch appeared in the Space Force’s Space-Track database the day before the formal announcement of the mission.
This launch was the 12th Electron mission of 2026, consisting of three flights of the HASTE suborbital version. The most recent HASTE launch occurred on June 11 from Launch Complex 2 in Virginia. The mission, code-named “Curveball”, resulted in the rocket’s second stage and kick stage reaching a very low orbit and thus being space-tracked, although they could re-enter within about a day.
The payload itself was not cataloged, and its fate is not known. Rocket Lab did not announce the launch in advance, and on its website, the launch is listed without any details, including its launch date.
