<p>Sydney: Rocket Lab on Friday said it had launched its Electron rocket into space from a facility in New Zealand, the SpaceX rival's first flight since a mission failure in September.</p><p>The rocket, carrying a satellite for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, a Japan-based Earth imaging company, blasted off from a launch pad on the country's North Island about 5:05 p.m. local time (0405 GMT).</p><p>After passing through normal mission milestones, it fired a "kick stage" to lift the satellite into its final orbit about 9 minutes into the flight, to cheers in the mission control room. The satellite reached orbit about 50 minutes later.</p>.<p>The previous mission, the Electron's 41st, failed about 2 1/2 minutes into its flight as it carried a satellite from synthetic-aperture radar firm Capella Space toward orbit. It was Rocket Lab's first mission failure in over two years.</p><p>The mission on Friday, dubbed "The Mood God Awakens" in acknowledgement of its payload TSUKUYOMI-I, named after the Japanese god of the moon, is Rocket Lab's 10th Electron launch this year, the company said, compared with nine in 2022.</p><p>Rocket Lab has said it would attempt to recover the Electron boosters as part of its bid to reuse rockets.</p>
<p>Sydney: Rocket Lab on Friday said it had launched its Electron rocket into space from a facility in New Zealand, the SpaceX rival's first flight since a mission failure in September.</p><p>The rocket, carrying a satellite for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space, a Japan-based Earth imaging company, blasted off from a launch pad on the country's North Island about 5:05 p.m. local time (0405 GMT).</p><p>After passing through normal mission milestones, it fired a "kick stage" to lift the satellite into its final orbit about 9 minutes into the flight, to cheers in the mission control room. The satellite reached orbit about 50 minutes later.</p>.<p>The previous mission, the Electron's 41st, failed about 2 1/2 minutes into its flight as it carried a satellite from synthetic-aperture radar firm Capella Space toward orbit. It was Rocket Lab's first mission failure in over two years.</p><p>The mission on Friday, dubbed "The Mood God Awakens" in acknowledgement of its payload TSUKUYOMI-I, named after the Japanese god of the moon, is Rocket Lab's 10th Electron launch this year, the company said, compared with nine in 2022.</p><p>Rocket Lab has said it would attempt to recover the Electron boosters as part of its bid to reuse rockets.</p>