WELLINGTON, New Zealand—The California-based Rocket Lab, which specializes in launching tiny satellites into orbit, launched a Japanese satellite from its complex on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula on Friday.
The mission, dubbed "The Moon God Awakens," was originally slated on Wednesday but was pushed back owing to severe winds expected. At 5:06 p.m., the Electron rocket took off. 04:06 a.m. local time (04:06 a.m. GMT).
Rocket Lab claimed in a statement more than two hours after the launch that the rocket successfully delivered the TSUKUYOMI-I satellite into orbit for Japanese startup Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space Inc.
According to Rocket Lab, the synthetic-aperture radar satellite, named after a Japanese deity of the moon, would capture photos of the Earth.
The mission is Rocket Lab's tenth for 2023, breaking the previous year's record of nine missions.
Since 2017, this is the 42nd Electron launch from Mahia or the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport near Wallops Island, Virginia. Rocket Lab was formed in 2006 in New Zealand.
