NASA Hopes New Zealand Launch Will Pave Way for Moon Landing

Rocket Lab's Electron rocket waits on the launch pad on the Mahia peninsula in New Zealand on June 28, 2022. Rocket Lab via AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand—NASA wants to experiment with a new orbit around the moon that it hopes to use in the coming years to once again land astronauts on the lunar surface.

So it is sending up a test satellite from New Zealand. The initial stages of the launch went according to plan late Tuesday, with the rocket carrying the satellite reaching space.