SpaceX rival Rocket Lab stumbles as the reusable-rocket industry takes off

No rocket, man… Reusable-rocket co Rocket Lab notched a big L this week after its satellite-carrying Electron rocket failed about 2 minutes into its flight. The failure, on Tuesday, was the first for the California company in more than two years, and it sent the biz’s stock down nearly 12%. (Rocket Lab said it would postpone its next Electron mission.) RL has blasted to industry prominence in recent years, trailing only SpaceX as the most active US rocket company. But space, as so many in the industry say, is hard:

• Blue it: Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin had a rocket engine explode during testing in June. 

• Astried: Astra said last year that it would stop flying a rocket designed to launch small satellites after several failures — including a mission for NASA.

• Virgin Obit: Despite some initial success, Virgin Orbit shut down this year. 

X marks the spot… Elon Musk’s SpaceX isn’t the only game in rocket-launching town, but an industry expert said it’s a “de facto monopoly.” Its rockets were behind 88% of US launches in the first half of this year, and it’s received $15.3B in gov’t contracts since 2003 (picture: launching NASA astronauts, flying US military satellites). SpaceX also does a steady business shuttling Starlink satellites into space, as well as the satellites of Starlink’s competitors. But it’s had its share of launch problems too.