[rrr_oh_man]

> Only the third country to achieve this.

What do you mean by this?

[darth_avocado]

Probably meant the third country with a private sector capability to launch rockets, US and China being the other two.

[mr_toad]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ArianeGroup

[alex_duf]

There's New Zealand as well with RocketLab

[kilroy123]

They're still a US company that just launches from there. Headquartered in California.

[downrightmike]

Japan just did a successful recapture of their first stage too

[sidcool]

Yes, that's what I meant.

[a34729t]

as opposed to New Zealand?

[walrus01]

Rocket Lab is a US company, they would not have been able to build what they did without full ITAR and MTCR compliance.

[onethought]

Maybe you need to let them know.

They were founded in NZ by a NZer, they launch from NZ, their employees are NZers. Calling them a US company is equivalent to saying Google is Irish.

[walrus01]

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18427351

Design and manufacturing is in the los angeles region aerospace industry cluster.

It's been a US company for the last 13 years.

https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-makes-its-defen...

[postingawayonhn]

Design and manufacturing for the rocket part of their business is mainly split between Auckland and Los Angeles. Various sources say they have between 500 and 700 employees in NZ.

Earlier this year they acquired a new machining business in Auckland and are expanding capacity at their NZ launch site: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/rocket-lab-establishes-new...

[lightedman]

RL incorporated in the USA to gain launch licenses.

They've been an American company for over a decade at this point.

[onethought]

Google incorporated in Ireland to gain tax benefits. They’ve been Irish ever since.

[tekla]

You should let RocketLab know that they are wrong about themselves