California-based Rocket Lab has launched a Japanese satellite from the space company's complex on New Zealand’s Mahia Peninsula.

A satellite the size of a microwave oven successfully broke free from its orbit around Earth and is headed toward the moon.

NASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon that it hopes to use in the coming years to once again land astronauts on the lunar surface.

Using a helicopter to catch a falling rocket is such a complex task that Peter Beck likens it to a “supersonic ballet.”.

New Zealand has become the latest country to sign a space agreement with U.S. space agency NASA, just as New Zealand’s nascent space industry begins to take off.

AdIt used to be -- in the U.S.-- NASA was the only way to fund and send a robotic mission to another world, but not anymore. The company wants to send the first robotic mission to Venus in 2023. (Image credit: Rocket Lab) (Rocket Lab)Meanwhile, NASA is considering funding its own missions to the planet considered Earth’s twin. Currently there are two Venus missions under consideration and two more equally fascinating missions, one designed to study Jupiter’s moon Io and another to Neptune’s moon Triton. AdHere’s what launching a robotic mission to another planet looks like, in a nutshell, according to Wagner:“This is what a typical NASA mission is.

It's was part of a pre-planned test carried out by Virgin Orbit, the space startup backed by British entrepreneur Richard Branson. Wednesday's spectacle, during which a Virgin Orbit LauncherOne rocket was intentionally left to freefall back to the ground for a "drop test," was the final step toward reaching that goal. Once the plane reached about 35,000 feet, the typical cruising altitude for commercial aircraft, the rocket was released. Virgin Orbit was spun off from Branson's other space venture, Virgin Galactic, in 2017. In an email Thursday, Virgin Orbit spokesperson Kendall Russell added that the company is "financially comfortable."