Rocket Lab and SpaceX launched their spacecraft just minutes apart on Feb. 18, marking a busy day for spaceflight. Rocket Lab launched the first in a new generation of BlackSky imaging satellites while SpaceX sent its Falcon 9 into the orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket lifted off from Pad B at the company’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 6:17 p.m. EST. The payload for the “Fasten Your Space Belts” mission, a BlackSky imaging satellite, deployed from the kick stage about 55 minutes later with a planned circular orbit of 470 kilometers at an inclination of 59 degrees.
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“This launch represents a major inflection point for our global defense and intelligence customer base as BlackSky introduces very high-resolution Gen-3 capabilities to our high-frequency, low-latency monitoring constellation,” said Brian O’Toole, chief executive of BlackSky.
He also added that BlackSky planned “a regular cadence of additional launches over the coming year” but did not offer specifics. This was the second Electron launch of the year, and the sixtieth overall.
Meanwhile, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 6:21 p.m. EST. The Falcon 9 first stage performed a droneship landing in waters near the Exuma Islands in The Bahamas. The rocket deployed its payload of 23 Starlink satellites about 65 minutes later, making it the first time SpaceX conducted a landing there and the first Falcon 9 booster landing in the waters of another country.
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“This is significant for The Bahamas in so many ways,” Deputy Prime Minister of The Bahamas Isaac Chester Cooper said, claiming that this would give the country a foothold in the aerospace industry as well as boost its educational and tourism sectors.
In the same week, President Donald Trump stated that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who is also currently leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), will not take part in any space-related government decisions. “So anything to do with possibly even space, we won’t let Elon partake in that,” Trump told reporters on Monday.