KEY POINTS
  • The next mission, its 20th to date, is scheduled to launch in May from the company's private facility in New Zealand.
  • The primary goal of the mission is to deploy two satellites in orbit for BlackSky.
  • But Rocket Lab will also attempt to recover the booster stage of its Electron rocket after the launch, by splashing it down in the ocean.
  • "This is really the next step in the iteration to make Electron reusable," Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck told CNBC.
The 16th Electron launch in November 2020, when the company recovered the rocket after splashdown for the first time.

The next mission for small launch leader Rocket Lab will feature its second attempt to recover an Electron rocket booster after liftoff by splashing it down in the ocean.

The company is working toward reusability of its rockets—the same way Elon Musk's SpaceX currently does.