Rocket Lab pushed its Neutron rocket back to 2027, and its shares fell 6.64%

Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab, founded in Auckland, fell 6.64% to US$55.25 on Thursday. After Wednesday's close, it said Neutron, the much bigger rocket it is building to compete with SpaceX's Falcon 9, will not fly until 2027.

The fault is in a dome. Rocket Lab found voids, small air pockets, in the carbon-composite dome that caps the first-stage propellant tank. Chief executive Peter Beck said the flaws did not necessarily mean the dome would fail in flight.

He would not take the chance anyway. "Possible success isn't our standard," Beck said. The company now expects to assemble the first stage in the March 2027 quarter and set a launch date after that.

Chart: Rocket Lab's value slips as Neutron waits for 2027. Revenue by year in US$m on the left scale; market value at each year end and the latest reading in US$bn on the right. It was US$37.3bn at end-2025 and US$33.1bn now. — This story’s chart of the day: the numbers, the dark version and the animated version are on its own page. The chart’s page →

The timetable has slipped before. When Neutron was unveiled in 2021, the target was a first launch in 2024. That became 2025, then the end of this year.

Thursday's trade was rough. The shares fell as much as 16% to US$49.69 before recovering, after losing 7.85% in Wednesday's session.

The long view

Beck has chosen a later date over a riskier first flight, and for a rocket company that is a defensible trade. The next marker is the first stage, due to be assembled in early 2027, and every date Neutron has been given so far has slipped.

This story ran in Wholesale Heat Friday 16 October’s edition, with the market snapshot, the other two stories, the numbers and the week ahead. Read the whole edition →

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Tuesday 10 November Rocket Lab's order book grew by half in three months
Wednesday 21 October SpaceX's revenue rose 161%, and most of it came from AI rather than rockets

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