"It was a great flight," chief executive Peter Beck said in a statement after the launch, adding though that the rocket did not quite reach orbit, the path on which its future cargo would embark on its revolution of the Earth. We didn’t quite reach orbit,, and we’ll be investigating why, however, reaching space in our first test puts us in an incredibly strong position to accelerate the commercial phase of our program, deliver our customers to orbit and make space open for business.”

The 55-foot-tall (17-meter) Electron rocket, made of black carbon composite materials, fired its nine first stage Rutherford engines in the final seconds of Thursday’s countdown. After a quick health check, computers commanded hold-down restraints to release the booster at 0420 GMT (12:20 a.m. EDT) from Launch Complex 1, Rocket Lab’s operations base on Mahia Peninsula on the eastern coast of New Zealand’s North Island. “We’re one of a few companies to ever develop a rocket from scratch and we did it in under four years," said Peter Beck, chief executive and founder of Rocket Lab. Image copyright Digital Globe Image caption The launch site is located on North Island's Mahia peninsula

New Zealand is also positioned well to get satellites into a north-to-south orbit around Earth.
Rocket Lab launches its 3D-printed Electron rocket on a test flight from Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. This is the first launch from New Zealand and the first from a private facility. Electron is 17 meters high, is intended for frequent launches of small payloads, and costs $5 million per liftoff. SpaceX's Falcon 9 stands at 70 meters, carries up to 22,800 kilograms to the ISS, and costs $62 million per launch.