Rocket Lab Corp

Origin (2006–2012)

Rocket Lab was founded in June 2006 by Peter Beck in New Zealand, after a trip to the United States. During the trip, Beck realized the possibility and potential for a low-cost, small rocket. While contacting potential investors, he met Mark Rocket, who later became a seed investor and was co-director from 2007 to 2011. Other investors to the company included Stephen Tindall, Vinod Khosla, and the New Zealand Government.

The company became the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space after launching its Ātea-1 sounding rocket in November 2009. The payload was not recovered, and the launch was deemed unsuccessful. The payload was a ballistic instrumentation dart and its trajectory depended only on the boost phase. The launch took place off the coast of New Zealand, from the private island ( Great Mercury Island ) of Michael Fay, a New Zealand banker and Rocket Lab investor.

In December 2010, the company was awarded a U.S. government contract from the Operationally Responsive Space Office (ORS) to study a low-cost space launcher to place CubeSats into orbit. The agreement with NASA enabled the company to contract for limited NASA resources, including personnel, facilities, and equipment, for commercial launch efforts.

United States move (2013–2020)

Around 2013, the company moved to the United States and established its headquarters in Huntington Beach, California. The move coincided with funding from American sources, and was in part due to increased U.S. government involvement. The New Zealand company became a subsidiary of the American company. In 2020, Rocket Lab moved to Long Beach. The move was motivated by the need to accommodate the company's growing workforce and to be closer to suppliers and customers. The new facility includes a state-of-the-art production facility for manufacturing the company's Electron launch vehicle, as well as administrative offices and other support facilities.

In 2013, funding was obtained from Khosla Ventures, and Callaghan Innovation (a Crown entity of New Zealand). Bessemer Venture Partners invested in 2014 and Lockheed Martin invested in 2015. Rocket Lab announced in March 2017 that it had raised an additional US$75 million in a Series D equity round led by Data Collective with participation by Promus Ventures and earlier investors. In May 2017, Callaghan Innovation funding was reported to total NZ$15 million. In November 2018, the company reported raising a $150 million Series E round led by Future Fund. The first NASA mission, launched in 2018, was valued by the space agency at $6.9 million (with launch services, etc., included).

In 2018, Rocket Lab began to develop reusable first stage technology, after previously stating publicly that they had no intention of attempting to recover and reuse their launch vehicles. They disclosed the effort to study the potential recovery of an Electron first stage in August 2019, aiming to use a parachute and mid-air retrieval. In December 2019, they flight tested the reentry technology, a Rocket Lab proprietary aerothermal decelerator, on Electron flight number 10, and were able to decelerate the rocket and successfully bring it through the space to lower atmosphere transition. In November 2022, Rocket Lab cut the ribbon on an engine test facility for the Archimedes engine at NASA 's Stennis Space Center.

In March 2020, the company announced that it had acquired Sinclair Interplanetary, a Canadian manufacturer of components for small satellites. Rocket Lab said that it would use Sinclair technology on its Photon line of small satellite buses, and that it would help Sinclair increase production of small satellite components for sale to other firms. Thereafter, Rocket Lab launched missions with some or all of the payload being made by Sinclair Interplanetary.

Public company (2021–present)

In March 2021, the company announced that it was planning to go public through an initial public offering (IPO) of stock in the second quarter of 2021. The company planned to accomplish the IPO through a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Vector Acquisition Corporation (VACQ). The merger planned to value the company at US$4.1 billion and provide the company with $790 million in working capital to support the development of a medium-lift two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle called Neutron, aiming for the mega-constellation satellite deployment market. Neutron was planned to be partially reusable with the booster stage performing a Return To Launch Site (RTLS) landing, to be refurbished and relaunched.

The company began trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange on 25 August 2021 after merging with SPAC Vector Acquisition at a $4.8 billion valuation. The transaction added $777 million in gross cash. At the time, Rocket Lab had over 500 employees, and it had successfully launched 105 satellites into orbit. Rocket Lab's launch business booked revenues of $13.5 million in 2018, $48 million in 2019, and an estimated $33 million in 2020. Rocket Lab spent somewhere between $250 and $300 million of the cash gained from going public to develop Neutron. Rocket Lab aimed to launch Neutron by 2025.

As of August 2021, the company intended to build a new factory in the United States to manufacture the rockets as well as launch infrastructure for Neutron at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Wallops Island, Virginia. In October 2021, the company acquired Advanced Solutions, Inc (ASI), a Colorado -based spacecraft flight software company. In November 2021, the company acquired Planetary Systems Corporation (PSC), a manufacturer of satellite separation systems, for $81.4 million. In January 2022, the company acquired SolAero, a supplier of space solar power products.

On 3 May 2022, in the "There And Back Again" mission, the company launched its Electron rocket from New Zealand and attempted to recover it for the first time. It was able to capture the falling rocket booster in mid-air, a historic first. Beck later said that the booster was hanging improperly, so it was allowed to parachute into the water where it was extracted by a ship.

In August 2022, the company revealed plans to become the first private company to reach Venus. The company is building a small probe, called the Venus Life Finder (VLF), which is designed to plunge through Venus's upper atmosphere for roughly five minutes between 29 mi (47 km) and 37 mi (60 km) above the planet's surface, searching for organic compounds. As of March 2025, the target launch date aboard the Electron rocket was the Summer of 2026.

In October 2023, Rocket Lab officially opened its engine development facility in Long Beach to support the development of the Archimedes engine. The facility, including production assets such as machinery and equipment, had been acquired in May 2023 out of Virgin Orbit 's bankruptcy proceedings.

In January 2024, Rocket Lab became the prime contractor for a $515M United States Space Force (USSF) military satellite project, the company's largest contract to date.

In April 2024, the company announced it would begin selling carbon composite products to customers.

As of 2024, the company was developing the bigger Neutron reusable unibody rocket; multiple spacecraft buses, and rocket engines: Rutherford, Curie, HyperCurie, and Archimedes. In mid 2024, the company entered the engine test phase in Neutron's development process.

In October 2024, Green Party Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Teanau Tuiono asked Minister for Space Judith Collins if she was aware BlackSky Technology "has a contract to supply high temporal frequency images and analysis to the Israeli Defence ministry" and if this will prohibit future launches from New Zealand. Space activities in New Zealand are monitored by the Outer Space and High-altitude Activities Act 2017, Teanau Tuiono questioning whether launches would be denied on the basis of international relations. Previously Cabinet has not permitted some payloads.

In November 2024, news reports said the company threatened an academic in New Zealand with a defamation lawsuit for comments that Rocket Lab was involved with US military control over nuclear weapons.

In May 2025, Rocket Lab entered into an agreement to acquire GEOST. This has increased their total headcount by 115, bringing Rocket Lab's total headcount to more than 2,600 employees.

In October 2025, activist group Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa made a request to New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to withdraw approval for upcoming launches for BlackSky Technology, as these launches have possible links to Israeli military intelligence.

In March 2026, Rocket Lab secured a US$190 million (NZ$327 million) contract with the United States Department of Defense (Department of War) to conduct a series of hypersonic test flights using its HASTE launch vehicle.

In April 2026, Rocket Lab completed the acquisition of Mynaric AG, a supplier of laser optical communications terminals, for an aggregate consideration value of $155.3 million. As Mynaric will continue to be based in Germany post-acquisition, this deal provided Rocket Lab with the company's first European footprint.

In April 2026, Rocket Lab announced the introduction of Gauss, an in-house designed and manufactured electric propulsion system for satellites. At the time of the announcement, Rocket Lab revealed it had already established a production line capable of manufacturing more than 200 Gauss thrusters per year.

In May 2026, Rocket Lab secured $90m United States Space Force 's Space Systems Command (SSC) contract to build and operate two geostationary satellites. The contract extends the work prototyping two Heimdall Space -based payloads, developed originally in a contract awarded to GEOST, integrated into Rocket Lab Optical Systems.

In May 2026, Rocket Lab completed the acquisition of Motiv Space Systems, a manufacturer of in space robotics, motion control systems, and precision mechanisms for spacecraft. The acquisition included Motiv's 50-person team and its manufacturing facilities in Pasadena, California. Following the deal, Motiv was rebranded as Rocket Lab Robotics.

In June 2026, Rocket Lab announced the acquisition of Iridium and wins NASA award for three Electron launches.