A Rocket Lab Electron rocket launches South Korea's NEONSAT-1A satellite from New Zealand on Jan. 29, 2026. Rocket Lab launched a South Korean disaster-monitoring satellite from New Zealand on Thursday (Jan. 29), about six weeks later than originally planned. And even that try was delayed a bit; Rocket Lab had originally targeted Dec. 10 but pushed things back to perform additional checkouts. That payload is NEONSAT-1A, "an advanced Earth-observation satellite equipped with a high-resolution optical camera," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description . The company launched 21 missions last year, setting a new Rocket Lab record.