Rocket Lab is set to fire its 100th space mission early tomorrow, a milestone no commercial rocket has ever reached faster.
An Electron rocket wrapped in special black-and-gold livery will lift off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site during a launch window that opens at 12:30 a.m. ET (0530 GMT). The flight is dubbed "The Mountain God Rises," with live coverage beginning roughly half an hour before liftoff.
The payload is a private Japanese Earth-observing satellite for Tokyo-based iQPS, which is building a constellation of synthetic aperture radar satellites. This is Rocket Lab's 11th launch for the company, and the spacecraft will deploy about 357 miles (575 kilometers) above Earth, where radar can image the planet through clouds and in darkness alike.
The 59-foot Electron has traveled a long road from a failed debut in May 2017 and a first orbital success in January 2018. Across 99 launches it has earned a 96% reliability rate, and the century-mark flight locks in its place as one of the most prolific small-lift rockets ever built.