What happened
Shares of American-New Zealand space company Rocket Lab USA (RKLB +3.27%) plunged 15.5% at the open on Tuesday after the company's 41st attempt at a rocket launch ended in failure this morning.
The stock regained much of its early losses as morning turned into afternoon. As of 12:50 p.m. ET, Rocket Lab stock is down "only" 8%. But the news is still pretty sad.
NASDAQ: RKLB
Key Data Points
So what
After taking off from the company's Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and completing its first stage burn and stage separation, the Electron rocket's second stage experienced "an issue" about 150 seconds into the flight. It was remotely terminated, destroying both the second stage and its payload of a single Capella Acadia synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite.
Earlier this month, Rocket Lab had boasted that it is currently Capella's "sole launch provider in 2023," noting that this morning's launch was to be the second of a four-rocket series of satellite launches for privately held Capella. Whether Rocket Lab is able to complete the series with additional launches this year will probably depend on how quickly Rocket Lab can figure out what went wrong with its rocket, and how to fix it -- which isn't yet clear.
Now what
What does seem clear is that Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck will no longer be able to boast for a while, as he did in announcing the Capella flight, that Rocket Lab's record of providing "regular and reliable dedicated access to orbit" remains intact.
It also appears that the company will need to revise (downward) its guidance for third-quarter financial results, as it will be taking a financial hit from today's disaster. And Rocket Lab may need to postpone an additional launch that had been scheduled to take place in Q3 pending completion of its accident investigation.
That's a shame. In space investing, investors like to console themselves with the reminder that "space is hard" and accidents happen. But prior to today's mishap, things had been going so well for Rocket Lab, for so long, that they may have forgotten that maxim. Rocket Lab had completed 19 successful launches in a row, not having lost a single rocket in more than two years.
Now, Rocket Lab will have to reset the counter on its launch room sign to read, "Days without a rocket anomaly: 0."
