Rocket Lab For keeping the space race competitive

YOU MIGHT NOT KNOW IT FROM the parade of SpaceX and Blue Origin headlines, but there's another player in the space-launch business—one that's considerably less flashy than the Elon Musk–and Jeff Bezos–owned companies, but gaining fast.

- Adam Bluestein

Nineteen-year-old Rocket Lab notched a record 16 launches of its Electron rockets in 2024, up from 10 in 2023. That meant Rocket Lab accounted for the second most launches among U.S. operators in 2024.

While SpaceX and Blue Origin have focused on medium- and heavy-lift rockets, Rocket Lab—founded in New Zealand and now headquartered in Long Beach, California—has made its name with the light-lift Electron, which carries smaller payloads. But the reliability and precision of these rockets, which are made of lightweight carbon composite and use 3D printed engines, allow Rocket Lab to fly the kinds of complex missions, on tight timetables, that its competitors can’t.