Rocket Lab posts $268 million quarter and now expects Neutron's first launch in 2027

Rocket Lab said on November 9, 2026, that its revenue for the three months to September 30 was $267.8 million, 73% more than a year earlier. In its quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, filed the same day, it said a manufacturing problem found in October means it now expects Neutron, its larger reusable rocket, to make its first launch in 2027.

By our comparison, revenue came in above the top of the $250 million to $265 million the company forecast in August. The net loss widened to $79.7 million from $18.3 million. It included a $27.3 million charge for ending a bridge-loan commitment for the planned purchase of Iridium Communications; the year-earlier quarter included a $41.1 million income tax benefit. Adjusted EBITDA, the company's measure of earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and items it considers unrepresentative of ongoing operations, was a loss of $18.0 million, against $26.3 million. GAAP operating cash flow for the quarter was positive at $7.2 million.

Spacecraft drive the growth

Most of the increase came from space systems, the company's spacecraft, components and related services: revenue there rose 88% to $214.8 million, which Rocket Lab attributed to spacecraft manufacturing growth and acquisitions. Launch services revenue rose 30% to $53.1 million on six Electron missions, against four a year earlier. Electron had flown 93 times through September 30, counting suborbital launches, 18 of them in the first nine months of 2026, the filing says.

A $3.57 billion order book

The backlog, which Rocket Lab defines as the value of signed contracts and purchase orders not yet fulfilled, stood at $3.573 billion on September 30, up from $2.36 billion at the end of June and $1.847 billion at the end of 2025. Launch services made up $1.848 billion and space systems $1.725 billion; the company expects to recognize about 33% within 12 months. The figure excludes unexercised customer options, and the filing notes that launch and spacecraft contracts typically let customers cancel with advance notice and a termination fee.

The company said it signed about $1 billion of launch contracts in the quarter across Electron, HASTE and Neutron, taking its launch backlog to 117 launches. It also reported more than $515 million of Neutron contracts from constellation operators in the quarter, giving the yet-to-fly rocket 16 missions, and said it lifted Neutron's base price to $70 million for several of them, citing tighter industry launch capacity.

Why Neutron slipped

While building first-stage composite structures in October, the company found a process issue that had left voids in parts of a propellant tank dome, the 10-Q says. It has changed the process and reports encouraging results from later tests, but it still has to make a replacement forward dome, assemble the first-stage tank and complete hydrostatic and cryogenic test campaigns. It expects to give a more specific timeline once that work is done. Its results release puts the first launch at no earlier than 2027.

By our count, this is the year's second tank setback. On January 21, a Neutron stage 1 tank ruptured during a hydrostatic pressure qualification test, which the company says affected the launch schedule. In August, Rocket Lab described tank production as aligned with its target of delivering Neutron to the launch pad in the fourth quarter of 2026. The company announced Neutron in March 2021 and says it will carry about 13,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit in its reusable configuration.

Iridium deal still needs regulators

Rocket Lab agreed on June 28 to acquire Iridium for $54 a share in cash and stock, which it says represents an enterprise value of about $8.0 billion. The US antitrust waiting period expired on August 12 and Iridium's stockholders approved the merger agreement on September 24. The deal remains subject to regulatory approvals, including consent from the Federal Communications Commission and certain foreign approvals, and other customary closing conditions. Rocket Lab expects it to close in 2027.

The company says it has fully funded the purchase through share sales. It drew $3.91 billion in gross proceeds from at-the-market stock offerings in the first nine months of 2026 and ended September with $4.45 billion in cash and cash equivalents, against $828.7 million at the end of 2025. Iridium's lenders agreed on September 15 that about $1.8 billion of its term loans can remain outstanding after the deal closes, which Rocket Lab says removes the need to repay or refinance them.

What comes next

For the fourth quarter, Rocket Lab forecasts revenue of $270 million to $290 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of $14 million to $20 million. Those are the company's own projections, which its release labels forward-looking statements, and the quarterly figures above are unaudited. The full results and risk factors are in its quarterly report on SEC EDGAR.