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Rocket Lab set for Electron’s 9th launch as work continues on reusability, new US launch pad
Over the last several weeks, US spaceflight company Rocket Lab has posted major updates about its ongoing work on LC-2 – the company’s second orbital launch complex – and offered a number of glimpses behind the scenes of preparations for Electron’s 9th orbital launch attempt.
That attempt will be streamed by Rocket Lab and could occur as early as October 17th, delayed from the 15th due to unfavorable weather conditions.
Prior to announcing booster recovery efforts – much like SpaceX and the Falcon 9 – the company broke ground on their first US-based launch facility, to be located at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia. Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) will join the company’s lone orbital Launch Complex 1 (LC-1) – New Zealand’s first and only orbital launch site – and is meant to enable Rocket Lab to eventually reach a biweekly-to-weekly launch cadence with Electron.
In a statement posted to the company’s social media accounts, Rocket Lab proudly announced that it is working alongside Virginia Space teams to construct LC-2 and its associated Integration and Control Facilities. The future pad recently reached a major milestone as workers installed LC-2’s 66-ton Electron launch platform, to be followed soon after by the installation of the mount’s 44 foot tall (13.4m) strongback, itself weighing 7.6 tons. This marks the beginning of the end of construction efforts at the complex and Rocket Lab is still working towards completion sometime in December 2019. Inaugural pad testing and shakedown operations are expected to begin immediately after, followed by LC-2’s first Electron launch sometime in early 2020.
The US launch facilities will closely resemble Rocket Lab’s New Zealand pad both in appearance and operation: Electron will be rolled horizontally to the launch mount to be lifted vertical after installation on the strongback. A high-pressure water deluge system will protect the mount from Electron and deaden some of the acoustic energy created by the booster.
Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand 2017 (Rocket Lab)
Although Rocket Lab is an American company headquartered in Huntington, CA, it has never launched from the United States. The addition of a second launch complex is expected to drastically increase Electron’s launch cadence, while also lowering the burden placed on companies who would otherwise have to transport spacecraft internationally. In a statement, David Pierce – director of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Wallop Flight Facility – said that “the company’s Electron rocket helps fill a key national need for providing more – and more frequent – launch opportunities for small satellites, and NASA’s Launch Range at GSFC/Wallops, which has enabled commercial space operations for decades, is poised and ready to support these missions.”
Rocket Lab previously worked with NASA to support the Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa)-19 mission in December of 2018. So far, Rocket Lab has supported many small companies by launching a total of 39 satellites to orbit. A launch facility located in the US will allow the company to expand its customer base and open up opportunities for more US government launch contracts.
The new US-based launch facility will allow Rocket Lab to expand its employee roster by hiring up to 30 new team members in positions supportive of launch operations including engineering, launch safety, and administration. Launch Complex 2 has been certified to fly Electron up to 12 times a year – specifically supporting government contracts – while Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand has been certified for up to 120 launches per year.
Electron’s 9th launch – nicknamed “As the Crow Flies” – is scheduled for liftoff no earlier than (NET) October 15th and will be a dedicated commercial mission for startup Astro Digital. It will serve as an orbital launch attempt for Astro’s “Corvus” satellite bus and will test the world’s most powerful small electric propulsion system. In a recent blog post, Rocket Lab Senior Vice President of Global Launch Services Lars Hoffman stated that “the mission is a perfect example of the tailored, responsive and precise launch service sought by an increasing number of small satellite operators.”
On October 4th, the 9th flight-qualified Electron rocket completed a routine wet dress rehearsal (WDR) – loading the vehicle with propellant and counting down to launch (sans ignition) – at LC-1. A few days later, Astro Digital’s spacecraft was integrated with a Curie-powered kick stage and encapsulated inside Electron’s carbon fiber payload fairing.
As of now, everything is smoothly on track for Electron’s ninth launch. Of note, the Flight 9 Electron booster is outfitted with a new telemetry system designed to gather a huge amount of data about the reentry environment the booster experiences, data that will be used to reinforce the booster and prepare for its first recovery attempts.
Due to the volume of data that will be produced, Electron will quite literally eject small data capsules that will then be recovered by boat in the Pacific Ocean. If all goes well and the data returned looks promising, Rocket Lab could attempt its first Electron recoveries – nominally grabbing the parasailing booster mid-air with a helicopter – at some point in early 2020.
Check out Teslarati’s newsletters for prompt updates, on-the-ground perspectives, and unique glimpses of SpaceX’s rocket launch and recovery processes.
Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes Morrill revealed the company has made several changes to the all-electric pickup, which he calls a “living thing, constantly evolving and improving.”
Cybertruck is manufactured at Tesla’s Gigafactory Texas just outside of Austin, and over the past few years, Tesla has continued to make small changes to the pickup to improve everything from cost, reliability, serviceablility, and manufacturability.
“The finish line isn’t getting to production. A product is a living thing, constantly evolving and improving,” Morrill added.
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Some of those changes are yet to be revealed, but perhaps the most notable one was the change Tesla made to the aero shield that sits underneath the truck. In the past, it was aluminum, but now the Cybertruck is using a self-reinforcing polypropylene.
Morrill said that the polypropylene is “stretched into fibers and then laminated into the form,” and is much more durable, much lighter, and significantly cheaper than aluminum when it is manufactured this way.
It also enabled some improvements in the geometry of the Cybertruck, improving the manufacturing around the bolts and edges, in addition to minor form changes. These all benefitted the Cybertruck in more ways than one: specifically with durability and improved drag.
I was surprised by how interested people were to find out we made a relatively benign change to the Cybertruck aero shield, a part of the car most people never even see. So I’ll share some more details.
Here are two photos, the left is one of the latest trucks off the… pic.twitter.com/F5cZo2CZKf
— Wes (@wmorrill3) September 7, 2026
Typically, Teslas are not necessarily identified by model year because these changes are fluid and occur when the company sees fit to implement them. It is not like other automotive companies, which usually make sweeping manufacturing changes when building a new model year.
Instead, Teslas are recognized by their “generation” or “era.” For example, those with a newer Model Y might refer to their car as a “Juniper.” This is the same with Model 3, as many refer to the new body style as the “Highland.”
Tesla’s manufacturing changes are proof of the company’s constant need to improve its products and move things forward with its vehicles. There is no need to drag one’s feet and wait until next year if the product can be made better right now, and that’s precisely what Tesla did with the Cybertruck.
Elon Musk
Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash
An Amazon cargo plane crash near Miami’s airport stopped feet from dozens of Tesla Cybercabs.
An Amazon Prime Air Boeing 767 cargo jet overran the runway at Miami International Airport on Sunday afternoon, killing five people and injuring five more. The jet, operated by North Carolina based carrier 21 Air as Flight 7598, touched down around 2 p.m. after arriving from San Juan, Puerto Rico, then crossed the airport perimeter, plowed across NW 67th Avenue and struck multiple vehicles before catching fire, according to the Associated Press.
Photos and video from the scene show the aircraft’s nose stopped within meters of a fenced staging lot holding dozens of gold painted Tesla Cybercabs, the steering wheel free robotaxi Tesla began putting on public roads in Austin last week. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue has confirmed the plane struck “multiple vehicles” but has not said whether any Cybercabs were among them, and neither Tesla nor airport officials have addressed the fleet directly.
The Cybercabs had not yet entered commercial service in Miami. Tesla’s existing Robotaxi operation there runs on modified Model Y vehicles and has been unsupervised since Ashok Elluswamy confirmed the detail on X in July.
Footage of the plane crash from earlier today | #ONLYinDADE pic.twitter.com/iGoOtnd6cD
— ONLY in DADE (@ONLYinDADE) September 6, 2026
Elon Musk offered the briefest of reactions. Replying to a Zero Hedge post about the Cybercabs sitting so close to the wreckage, he wrote a single word: “Weird.” He has not commented further, and Tesla has not issued a statement.
The timing puts Tesla’s newest vehicle near an unrelated but highly visible tragedy just days after its Austin debut, a launch that had already drawn scrutiny from federal regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an audit how Tesla certified the Cybercab as compliant with federal vehicle safety standards, a process Teslarati covered after the vehicle’s September 3 launch event. That inquiry concerns the car’s lack of a steering wheel and pedals, not the Miami crash.
Investigators from the FAA and NTSB are focused on the plane, not the parking lot beside it. Flight data reviewed by outlets including Simple Flying show the 767 touched down around 170 knots, well above the 135 to 140 knot range typical for the aircraft, though investigators have not determined a cause. Amazon said it is working with authorities and that its priority is the safety of everyone affected.
Whether any Cybercabs were damaged, and what Tesla plans for the fleet parked near one of the country’s busiest airports, remain open questions.
Tesla has reached a notable benchmark in its autonomous driving program after its Robotaxi fleet surpassed one million miles of unsupervised operation. The company made the announcement during its Cybercab event in Austin on September 3.
Tesla Vice President of AI Ashok Elluswamy told attendees he was happy to report the fleet had achieved one million miles of unsupervised Robotaxi operation as a testament to safety.
The new total marked a sharp increase from the 380,000 unsupervised miles Tesla disclosed during its second-quarter 2026 earnings update in late July.
In roughly six weeks, the company added about 620,000 miles. That acceleration followed Tesla’s decision to remove in-vehicle safety monitors from most of its operations outside the San Francisco Bay Area.
Credit: Tesla
Tesla first launched Robotaxi service in Austin in June 2025 with safety drivers present. It later began fully unsupervised rides and expanded into Dallas, Houston, Miami, Orlando, and Tampa. The San Francisco Bay Area remains the exception, where a safety monitor still rides in the vehicle under California permitting rules.
The company has not released a city-by-city breakdown of the one million unsupervised miles.
The milestone arrived as Tesla began offering public Cybercab rides in Austin. The purpose-built vehicle has no steering wheel or pedals and is designed only for autonomous ride-hailing. Production versions joined the existing fleet of modified Tesla vehicles already operating in the service.
Tesla’s unsupervised mileage is growing at a double-digit weekly rate according to earlier company comments, yet its fleet size remains modest compared with established competitors. Waymo has accumulated more than 200 million fully autonomous rider-only miles. Tesla has described its own unsupervised operations as having recorded zero notable incidents in the period leading up to the July update.
The one-million-mile figure reflects Tesla’s shift from supervised testing to broader driverless service in multiple states. It also highlights the company’s strategy of using both existing Model Y vehicles and the new Cybercab to scale its network.
Credit: Tesla
Whether the rapid recent growth continues will depend on further city expansions, regulatory approvals, and the performance of the purpose-built Cybercab in everyday paid rides. Tesla has not specified how many of the latest miles involved the new vehicle versus the rest of the fleet.
The announcement underscores Tesla’s progress toward a larger robotaxi network while illustrating the remaining gap in total autonomous experience relative to longer-operating rivals.
Tesla Cybertruck engineer reveals new changes in ‘constantly evolving’ pickup
Tesla Cybercabs narrowly miss deadly Amazon cargo plane crash
