Rocket Lab Launches Second USSF Victus Haze Spacecraft

The call came before sunrise in Mahia, New Zealand. Less than 17 hr. later, Rocket Lab launched a company-built satellite to space with its Electron rocket, marking a key milestone in a U.S. Space Force program aimed at developing the ability to quickly deploy spacecraft to orbit in response to potential threats.

The Electron rocket lifted off on June 19 at 10:19 UTC (6:19 a.m. EDT) from one of two company pads in Mahia. The launcher flew 16 hr. and 42 min. after the Space Force sent Rocket Lab the notice to launch on June 18 at 17:35 UTC, and the spacecraft reached low Earth orbit approximately 9 min. later.

The effort, part of the service’s Victus Haze mission, requires Rocket Lab to launch to a previously unknown orbit within 24 hr. of call-up. Following on-orbit checkout and vehicle commissioning, the Rocket Lab platform was charged to then maneuver to join a second spacecraft, built by True Anomaly and launched last month, and snap a photo of it within 72 hr. of launch.

That phase has been completed, the Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) told Aviation Week June 22.

Victus Haze is the second mission in the Space Force’s Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program, following the 2023 Victus Nox effort in which Firefly Aerospace launched a spacecraft built by Boeing subsidiary Millennium Space Systems within 27 hr. after the military’s go-for-launch call.

For the latest mission, the service’s Space Safari office charged the two companies to provide the spacecraft, find rides to space, and operate the two satellites as they run through red and blue team space domain awareness (SDA) and rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) scenarios. The Rocket Lab spacecraft carries an advanced optical sensor built by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, while True Anomaly provided its own payload. The service also partnered with its innovation arm SpaceWERX to support the Rocket Lab element, and the Defense Innovation Unit to procure a second True Anomaly space vehicle.

For many programs, success is defined by the end product; for TacRS, it is marked by the process, Col. Bryon McClain, acting portfolio acquisition executive for space combat power, tells Aviation Week. Stress testing the entire commercial pipeline, from spacecraft design to launch to on-orbit tasking, is the key deliverable for Victus Haze, along with working through any issues that arise.

“Adapting to those anomalies is just as good as everything going perfectly,” says McClain, whose portfolio includes the Space Safari office.

The Victus Haze mission demonstrated just that need for flexibility. True Anomaly was originally slated to launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket. But Firefly suffered two mishaps in 2025 that grounded the Alpha rocket for nearly one year; it successfully launched again on March 11, but Space Force leaders have acknowledged its grounding delayed the Victus Haze mission. To overcome the launcher setback, True Anomaly pivoted to place its satellite on the SpaceX Falcon 9 CAS500-2 rideshare on May 3.

Rocket Lab was originally slated to launch its spacecraft first, followed by True Anomaly. But the team used the situation to adapt, McClain says.

Meanwhile, Firefly will support a future Victus mission with its forthcoming Alpha Block II rocket and a True Anomaly spacecraft, a Firefly spokesperson says.

Space Safari also matured a new, digital “plug and play” interface between spacecraft buses and mission payloads to add flexibility to Victus Haze, in partnership with The Aerospace Corp. That open systems architecture reduced integration timelines and cost and now is being used across other payload contracts, SSC says.

The Victus Haze mission also aimed to validate the processes of Rocket Lab and True Anomaly, which are still relatively new space companies. The former started purely as a launch provider, but it has since become an end-to-end spacecraft builder and designed and completed the spacecraft within 18 months. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket and its dual launch facilities in Mahia also helped the Space Force stress test its ability to rapidly deploy assets from diverse locations, offering the service a “responsive launch-plus spacecraft service wrapped up in one,” a company spokesperson says.

True Anomaly began building the Jackal spacecraft last September and shipped it in preparation for launch in May. The company declared the spacecraft fully commissioned on June 18, after it completed numerous test objectives related to RPO and SDA activities. CEO Even Rogers says its capabilities are “purpose-built” for efforts like Victus Haze.

“For years, tactically responsive space had largely existed as a concept without the required tools to respond effectively,” he says. “We’re excited to demonstrate what becomes possible when industry and warfighters work side by side to tackle operational problems end to end.”

The Victus Haze mission is slated to run for approximately six months, with the two spacecraft continuing to demonstrate RPO and SDA activities on orbit, according to SSC.

Space Safari then has three additional named Victus missions on its docket. Victus Surgo and Victus Salo involve two highly maneuverable spacecraft built by Impulse Space that will launch on a commercial rideshare, then remain pre-positioned on orbit to perform an SDA mission. Those missions are currently scheduled to launch in the first half of calendar year 2027, SSC says. Victus Sol will be the service’s first operational mission, to be called up at a future date to support a combatant command’s tasking request or an exercise. In 2025, SSC awarded Firefly a $22 million launch service contract to support Victus Sol.

As the TacRS program matures, expect to hear less about it, McClain says. Ultimately, the Space Force sees the mission as operating similarly to aircraft scrambling to intercept a suspicious vehicle in sovereign airspace, launching with little to no notice to the general public.

“We’re learning publicly, just to emphasize the capability that’s out there. But like all of our continuous operational systems, once we start getting into an operational case, it’ll probably get a lot more quiet,” McClain says.