
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.
Rocket Lab launched a satellite for a mystery customer on Thursday morning (Nov. 20).
The liftoff, which occurred at 7:43 a.m. EST (1243 GMT) from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site, came as something of a surprise. The company formally announced the impending launch of its workhorse Electron rocket less than five hours ahead of time.
The mission, called "Follow My Speed" was a complete success, Rocket Lab announced via X on Thursday morning.
"Today's 'Follow My Speed' mission marks 18 launches with 100% mission success for 2025 — more than any other year in Electron's history — making our rocket the most frequently flown orbital small launch vehicle in the world," the company said in another Thursday X post.
Fifteen of those 18 launches have been orbital missions. The other three were suborbital flights involving HASTE, a modified version of the 59-foot-tall (18-meter-tall) Electron that allows customers to test hypersonic technologies in the space environment.
We don't know much about "Follow My Speed."
Rocket Lab described the mission in vague terms only, saying that its goal was "to deploy a single satellite for a confidential commercial customer."
Keeping things so close to the vest isn't exactly odd for launch companies, who regularly loft national-security payloads or commercial satellites with sensitive, proprietary tech. Rocket Lab, for example, launched five satellites for a confidential customer just three months ago.
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Elvis Presley's Infamous Pantera Shooting - 2
Illustrations Gained from a Crosscountry Excursion - 3
Foods with healthy-sounding buzzwords could be hiding added sugar in plain sight - 4
'Stranger Things' Season 5: When does Volume 2 come out? And Volume 3? Everything to know about the remaining episodes before the finale. - 5
The beauty advent calendar boom is here. Sephora kids are all in.
Songbirds swap colorful plumage genes across species lines among their evolutionary neighbors
Hungary's 'water guardian' farmers fight back against desertification
Israel approves 19 new West Bank settlements in major annexation push
A Republican elected governor in California? It's not as far-fetched as it sounds.
Explainer-What Novo Nordisk's weight-loss pill approval means for company, patients
Apartment Turned Into Nightmare 'Ice Castle' After Tenant Shut Off Heat Causing Pipes to Burst: VIDEO
‘Inoculation’ helps people spot political deepfakes, study finds
German gas price bill signed into law, but consumers not impressed
In wrangling dark matter, some scientists find inspiration in the Torah, Krishna and Christ













