Rocket Lab USA, Inc. launched its first Electron mission for 2024, a space-junk focused mission for Spire Global Inc. and NorthStar Earth & Space. Electron's first stage sits on top of the water ahead of recovery operations to retrieve it following a successful return to Earth from space. The 'Four Of A Kind' mission for Spire's customer NorthStar successfully launched from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 19:34 NZDT /6:34 UTC.

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket deployed four Space Situational Awareness (SSA) satellites to a 530km circular Earth orbit where the satellites, built and operated by Spire, will monitor near-Earth objects from space to provide timely and precise information for space object detection, tracking, orbit determination, collision avoidance, navigation, and proximity alerts. The mission was Rocket Lab's 43rd Electron launch overall, bringing the Company's record of successfully deployed satellites to 176. 'Four Of A Kind' is Rocket Lab's first Electron launch in a sold-out 2024 mission manifest that includes multiple upcoming launches for NASA; hypersonic technology tests on suborbital HASTE missions from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia; the beginning or continuation of block launches for satellite operators BlackSky, Syn prospective, and Kineis; and several other launches for commercial and defense sector mission partners.