What Space Force just did with Rocket Lab after SpaceX Shocked Blue Origin!

What Space Force just did with Rocket Lab after SpaceX Shocked Blue Origin!
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What Space Force just did with Rocket Lab after SpaceX Shocked Blue Origin!
While the giants of the space industry are focused on heavy-lift rockets, Rocket Lab has a once-in-a-generation chance to lock down the small-launch market.
A clear example is what just happened recently. Beside SpaceX, The U.S. Space Force also awarded Rocket Lab contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars, choosing them over other providers to carry out a critical national security mission, something Blue Origin simply can’t do.
So what is that mission exactly? And what does it reveal about Rocket Lab’s position compared to Blue Origin moving forward?
Let’s find out in today’s episode of Alpha Tech.
What Space Force just did with Rocket Lab after SpaceX Shocked Blue Origin!
Back in November, the entire space community was buzzing when Blue Origin successfully launched New Glenn on its second flight. This is a massive heavy-lift rocket, and the booster came down for a picture-perfect landing on a drone ship at sea, straight out of a Hollywood movie.
The mission, called Escapade, carried two advanced twin NASA satellites heading all the way to Mars, designed to study the planet’s magnetosphere. Sounds impressive, right? A huge rocket, cutting-edge reusability, a deep-space mission, Jeff Bezos definitely had reasons to be proud.
But here’s the twist.
What Space Force just did with Rocket Lab after SpaceX Shocked Blue Origin!
Despite all that, Blue Origin only earned about 20 million dollars for this launch. That’s a surprisingly modest number for a heavy-lift rocket. The reason? This was essentially a discounted flight, with NASA helping fast-track New Glenn’s certification.
Now fast-forward to December 18, 2025.
Rocket Lab opened the launch window for Electron, their small, lightweight rocket, launching from Wallops Island, Virginia. This flight was for a U.S. Space Force mission called STP-S30, nicknamed “Don’t Be Such A Square.” The payload? Just four experimental DiskSats, flat, disk-shaped test satellites. No Mars. No deep space. Nothing flashy.
And yet, this single Electron launch was worth 14.4 million dollars. Let that sink in.
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