Rocket Lab USA has selected Wallops Island, Virginia in Accomack County as the location for its launch site and extensive manufacturing and operations facilities for its Neutron rocket, which is expected to create up to 250 new jobs.
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Rocket Lab will launch the Neutron from a new Virginia Space owned launch pad that will be located within the NASA Wallops Flight Facility and Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
The 250,000-square-foot state-of-the-art complex will be constructed on a 28-acre site adjacent to the Wallops Island Flight Facility, which was purchased by the Virginia Commercial Space Flight Authority in 2021. Up to 250 engineers, technicians, and support staff may be stationed at the complex.
This new manufacturing complex for the Neutron will be located within proximity of Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2, the company’s first launch site in the United States. It was built specifically for the Electron rocket, the second-most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually since 2019.
Founded in 2006, Rocket Lab is an end-to-end space company with an established track record of mission success. The company delivers reliable launch services, spacecraft components, satellites, other spacecraft as well as on-orbit management solutions that make it faster, easier, and more affordable to access space.
Headquartered in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron small orbital launch vehicle and the Photon satellite platform and is developing the Neutron 8-ton payload class launch vehicle.
Since its first orbital launch in January 2018, Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle has become the second most frequently launched U.S. rocket annually and has delivered 109 satellites to orbit for private and public sector organizations, enabling operations in national security, scientific research, space debris mitigation, Earth observation, climate monitoring, and communications. Rocket Lab’s Photon spacecraft platform has been selected to support NASA missions to the Moon and Mars as well as the first private commercial mission to Venus.
Rocket Lab is currently working with NASA to secure all necessary agreements and certifications for launches from Wallops Island. ■