Rocket Lab - ‘Bridging The Swarm’ Launch - YouTube 
Rocket Lab will try again tonight (Jan. 29) to launch a South Korean disaster-monitoring satellite, and you can watch the action live.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket attempts to ignite its first-stage engines during the aborted launch of the "Bridging the Swarm" mission on Dec. 15, 2025. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)
This will be the second liftoff attempt for "Bridging the Swarm." The first, on Dec. 15, ended with a last-second abort. And even th…
Rocket Lab - ‘Bridging The Swarm’ Launch - YouTube
Rocket Lab will try again tonight (Jan. 29) to launch a South Korean disaster-monitoring satellite, and you can watch the action live.
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket attempts to ignite its first-stage engines during the aborted launch of the "Bridging the Swarm" mission on Dec. 15, 2025. (Image credit: Rocket Lab)
This will be the second liftoff attempt for "Bridging the Swarm." The first, on Dec. 15, ended with a last-second abort. And even that try was delayed a bit; Rocket Lab had originally targeted Dec. 10 but pushed things back to perform additional checkouts.
"Bridging the Swarm" will launch a single payload for the Satellite Technology Research Center (SaTReC) at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).
That payload is NEONSAT-1A," an advanced Earth-observation satellite equipped with a high-resolution optical camera," Rocket Lab wrote in a mission description.
"Designed to capture near-real time natural disaster monitoring for the Korean peninsula, KAIST’s NEONSAT constellation is a collaboration across multiple Korean academic, industry and research institutions, including SaTReC, which is leading the program’s system design and engineering," the company added.
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NEONSAT is not a constellation yet. So far, just one satellite in the program has reached low Earth orbit — NEONSAT-1, which flew atop an Electron in April 2024.
The NEONSAT program is funded by the Korean government — namely, the Ministry of Science and ICT. (ICT stands for "Information and Communication Technology.")
If all goes to plan tonight, the Electron’s "kick stage" will deploy NEONSAT-1A about 54 minutes after launch, setting it free 336 miles (540 kilometers) above our planet.
"Bridging The Swarm" will be Rocket Lab’s second launch of 2026 and its 81st overall to date. The company launched 21 missions last year, setting a new Rocket Lab record.
Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor’s degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.
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