Posted: Sun, Dec 15, 2019, 7:40 AM ET (1240 GMT)
Rocket Lab formally opened its US launch site Thursday and announced the Air Force will be the first customer launching from there. Rocket Lab said Launch Complex 2 at Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, is now complete, with the first Electron launch from the site scheduled for the second quarter of 2020. The Air Force's Space Test Program will launch a microsatellite called Monolith on that mission to test the use of large-aperture space weather payloads on smallsats. The launch site is designed primarily for US government customers who wish to conduct launches from American soil and are interested in responsive launch capabilities.

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