Science · Friday, October 23, 2026
Rocket Lab flies its 98th Electron before dawn
The File desk · Oct. 23, 2026, 7:00 a.m. ET
Confirmed3 primary sources
Status
Liftoff and deployment times are the company's posts on X. The mission release is public and conflicts with those posts on the calendar date. This story uses the posts for the clock.
Rocket Lab said its 98th Electron lifted off at 3:13 a.m. Eastern on Friday, Oct. 23, with three HawkEye 360 satellites. The company said deployment was at 4:08 a.m. Eastern. Both times are from the company's posts on X.
The mission release carries a dateline of 23 October 2026. Its body gives the launch as 8:11 p.m. New Zealand time on 21 October 2026. This story does not use that body line as the launch clock. The footnote records the conflict.
Why it matters (Estimate). HawkEye's customers get three more satellites if deployment went as the post describes. The release and the posts do not agree on the date, so the clock here is the Friday posts, and the open questions are listed with the story. (Estimate.)
The company called the mission We're Not Hawking Around. It was the 19th Electron flight of this year. The satellites went to an orbit of about 520 kilometers.
How we know
Notes
- 1.Liftoff post, 3:13 a.m. Eastern Friday: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/2113529232576131200 — deployment post, 4:08 a.m. Eastern: https://x.com/RocketLab/status/2113543139462189240. The release dateline is 23 October 2026, and the release body says 8:11 p.m. NZST on 21 October 2026. This story uses the posts.
What is still unknown or disputed
- No scrub is described because this desk did not find a sourced scrub in the posts used.
- No photograph is published with this story.
Primary sources
Every claim in this story is drawn from the documents below. If a fetch failed, that is recorded on the card.
Source 1
98th Electron liftoff post
Rocket Lab, on X · October 23, 2026
The company posted liftoff at 3:13 a.m. Eastern on Friday, Oct. 23.
https://x.com/RocketLab/status/2113529232576131200
Source 2
98th Electron deployment post
Rocket Lab, on X · October 23, 2026
The company posted deployment at 4:08 a.m. Eastern.
https://x.com/RocketLab/status/2113543139462189240
Source 3
98th Electron mission release
Rocket Lab · October 23, 2026
The release dateline is 23 October 2026. The body names 8:11 p.m. NZST on 21 October 2026, the 98th Electron, the 19th of the year, about 520 kilometers, and the mission name We're Not Hawking Around.
https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/mission-success-rocket-lab-launches-98th-electron-mission/
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