Space startup Rocket Lab will build a second launch site in Virginia

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Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifts off during its second test flight. Photo: Rocket Lab

Soon, the company will be able to launch from the US and New Zealand

US aerospace startup Rocket Lab has decided to build a second launch site at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia. Up until now, the fledgling rocket company has had only one launch site — a private facility on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand — but this new Virginia site will give the company more options for its missions and could potentially allow Rocket Lab to launch more frequently in the future.

“Really, it’s to increase our overall launch capability,” Peter Beck, CEO of Rocket Lab, tells The Verge. “And also, not all customers want to travel to New Zealand to launch. It gives us the US soil location.”