Overview
- Rocket Lab launched the HASTE mission on Feb. 27 at 7:00 p.m. ET from Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia (00:00 UTC Feb. 28).
- It was the company’s second Defense Innovation Unit hypersonic test in three months and the seventh HASTE launch, maintaining a perfect success record.
- The mission deployed DART AE, a scramjet‑powered aircraft built by Australia’s Hypersonix, into a suborbital hypersonic environment at several times the speed of sound.
- Hypersonix CEO Matt Hill said the flight validated years of engineering and moved the company closer to delivering reusable hypersonic capability.
- The launch was Rocket Lab’s third of 2026 and 82nd overall, reinforcing HASTE’s role as a recurring test platform for U.S. and allied hypersonic programs.