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WASHINGTON — Rocket Lab launched a radar-imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective on June 26, a flight delayed by a responsive space mission.
The Electron rocket lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 1:43 p.m. Eastern on a mission called “10 Owl of 10” 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.
The launch was the 10th Electron mission to carry a Synspective 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 as early as June 17. However, Rocket Lab said late June 16 that the launch date “is being adjusted to conduct additional checkouts before launch,” without elaborating.
Instead, Rocket Lab performed a responsive launch mission for the U.S. Space Force’s Victus Haze program. The launch took place June 19, also from Launch Complex 1, but it was more than 72 hours before the Space Force or Rocket Lab announced the launch. There were no eyewitness reports of the launch from the remote location, although the payload and upper stage from the launch appeared in the Space Force’s Space-Track database a day later, before the formal announcement of the mission.
The launch was the 12th Electron mission of 2026, including three flights of the HASTE suborbital variant. The most recent HASTE launch took place 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 cataloged in Space-Track, although they likely reentered 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 with no details, including its launch date.