Rocket Lab expands launch footprint with first mission from U.S By Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Rocket Lab launched its first mission from American soil on Tuesday, kicking off an expansion of the company’s launch business that adds to a surge in private rocket activity at U.S. space ports.

The Long Beach, California-based company’s workhorse Electron rocket, an expendable launcher standing 40 feet (12 meters) tall, lifted off at 6 p.m. Eastern time from its new launch pad at the NASA-operated Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.