Rocket Lab launches 7 satellites, recovers booster after ocean splashdown

Rocket Lab launched seven satellites to orbit Sunday (July 17) and brought the booster back to Earth for a soft ocean splashdown. An Electron rocket carrying seven small satellites lifted off from Rocket Lab's New Zealand site Monday at 9:27 p.m. EDT (0127 GMT on July 18), after being delayed by a few days due to bad weather. Rocket Lab called the mission, the company's 39th to date, "Baby Come Back." And there's a good reason for that: About 17 minutes after liftoff, the Electron's first stage came back to Earth, making a soft splashdown under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean. Rocket Lab recovered the booster with a ship and will haul it back to land for inspection and analysis. More

(Source: Space.com - Jul 18)