{"id":9608,"date":"2022-05-05T14:55:41","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T14:55:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2022\/05\/05\/new-zealand-rocket-caught-but-then-dropped-by-helicopter\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T20:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T20:52:59","slug":"new-zealand-rocket-caught-but-then-dropped-by-helicopter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/smr\/geoint\/2022\/05\/05\/new-zealand-rocket-caught-but-then-dropped-by-helicopter\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand rocket caught but then dropped by helicopter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WELLINGTON, New Zealand \u2014 Using a helicopter to catch a falling rocket is such a complex task that Peter Beck likens it to a \u201csupersonic ballet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rocket Lab, the company that Beck founded, partially pulled off the feat Tuesday as it pushes to make its small Electron rockets reusable. But after briefly catching the spent rocket, a helicopter crew was quickly forced to let it go again for safety reasons, and it fell into the Pacific Ocean where it was collected by a waiting boat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The California-based company regularly launches 18-meter (59-foot) rockets from the remote Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand to deliver satellites into space. Rocket Lab has a history of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2020\/06\/13\/rocket-lab-launches-three-more-us-spy-satellites-into-orbit-from-new-zealand\/\" target=\"_blank\">supporting the U.S. intelligence community<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.c4isrnet.com\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2021\/03\/23\/rocket-lab-launches-army-satellite\/\" target=\"_blank\">American armed forces<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2984\" height=\"1990\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-25847\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg 2984w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,683 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP22123095324059.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1366 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2984px) 100vw, 2984px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Electron rocket blasts off for its &#8220;There And Back Again&#8221; mission on the Mahia Peninsula of New Zealand on May 3, 2022. (Rocket Lab via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Tuesday, the Electron rocket was launched in the morning and sent 34 satellites into orbit before the main booster section began falling to Earth. Its descent was slowed to about 10 meters per second by a parachute. That\u2019s when the helicopter crew sprang into action, dangling a long line with a hook below the helicopter to snag the booster\u2019s parachute lines. The crew caught the rocket, but the load on the helicopter exceeded the parameters from tests and simulations, so they jettisoned it again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The roller coaster of emotions was caught in a livestream of the event, with people at mission control cheering and clapping as the rocket was caught, only to let out a collective gasp and sigh about 20 seconds later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Still, Beck hailed the mission as a success, saying that almost everything went to plan and that the unexpected load issue was a tiny detail that would soon be fixed \u2014 a \u201cnothing in the scheme of things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey got a great catch. They just didn\u2019t like the way the load was feeling,\u201d Beck said of the helicopter crew in a conference call after the launch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said a detailed analysis should reveal the reasons for the discrepancy in the load characteristics. He said he still hopes the company can salvage some or all of the spent rocket booster, despite it getting dunked in salt water, which they\u2019d hoped to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Rocket Lab named its latest mission \u201cThere And Back Again\u201d \u2014 a reference to the movie trilogy \u201cThe Hobbit,\u201d which was filmed in New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company described the brief midair capture at 1,980 meters by the Sikorsky S-92 helicopter as a milestone. It says making its rockets reusable will enable the company to increase the number of launches it makes and reduce costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX company designed the first reusable orbital rocket, the Falcon 9.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rocket Lab partially pulled off the feat as it pushes to make its small Electron rockets reusable.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":25843,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":103,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"10":{"categories":["space","military-space-report","newsletters","daily-news-roundup","techwatch","industry","asia-pacific","global"],"primary_category":"space"}}},"categories":[7,106,103,13,32,37,19],"tags":[8490],"coauthors":[403],"class_list":["post-9608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-daily-brief","category-geoint","category-industry","category-newsletters","category-space","category-smr","tag-new-zealand"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NIPL75DEYRDG7DT2ZZ2NQ57NIY","arc_canonical_url":"\/smr\/geoint\/2022\/05\/05\/new-zealand-rocket-caught-but-then-dropped-by-helicopter\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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