Rocket Lab completes its ninth launch for Japanese radar satellite company Q-Shu
Rocket Lab this morning successfully placed its ninth launch for the Institute for Q-shu Pioneers of Space (IQPS or Q-shu), its Electron rocket lifting off from one of its two launchpads in New Zealand. The rocket company has contract for a total of 18 launches with Q-Shu, and now has nine to go.
SpaceX had planned a Starlink launch shortly thereafter, but that launch has been rescheduled for tomorrow morning.
The leaders in the 2026 launch race:
100 SpaceX
55 China
12 Rocket Lab (plus two suborbital HASTE launches)
10 Russia
For the third straight year SpaceX leads the entire world combined in total launches, 100 to 93.
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I went back and checked.
They posted their initial announcement of this launch yesterday afternoon, and launched this morning.
I am sure it was planned internally, but this is an interesting shift from the long lead times for announcements.