That's Not A Knife
That's Not A Knife was a Rocket Lab Electron mission for U.S. Space Force that launched successfully at 00:00 UTC on 28 February 2026 (1:00 p.m. NZDT on 28 February; 7:00 p.m. EST on 27 February) from Launch Complex 2 at Wallops Island, Virginia.
00:00 UTC on 28 February 2026 · 1:00 p.m. NZDT on 28 February · 7:00 p.m. EST on 27 February
Mission State
This mission currently has a dated launch window in the tracker.
The primary watch link points to an official Rocket Lab source.
Launch Updates
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Mission success.
by Cosmic_Penguin Source: x.com -
Payload separation.
by Cosmic_Penguin Source: youtube.com -
Liftoff.
by Cosmic_Penguin Source: youtube.com
Updates via Launch Library 2 (The Space Devs).
Name Origin
Iconic line from Crocodile Dundee (1986) — a direct nod to the Australian payload: the DART AE scramjet developed by Hypersonix for the Defense Innovation Unit's HyCAT program.
Mission Overview
Payload is a scramjet-powered hypersonic vehicle developed by by Australian company Hypersonix.
In the news
- Rocket Lab launches hypersonic scramjet vehicle for the US military (opens in a new tab) Space.com
Rocket Lab launched a hypersonic scramjet vehicle for the U.S. military on Feb; 27, 2026, from Wallops Island, Virginia.
- Rocket Lab Prepares To Launch Latest Hypersonic Test Mission for Defense Innovation Unit (opens in a new tab) Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab launches its HASTE rocket for a DIU hypersonic test mission, 'That’s Not A Knife,' no earlier than late February. This marks the fourth hypersonic flight in under six months. It highlights Rocket Lab's…
Technical Details
- That's Not A Knife rocketlabcorp.com
Launch data cross-checked against Wikipedia.
Was this a jellyfish launch?
HighSun 13° below the horizon at liftoff — prime twilight.
Details
- Unlikely
- Low
- Moderate
- High
- Liftoff
- 7:00 p.m. EST · 00:00 UTC
- Sunset
- 5:53 p.m. EST · 22:53 UTC
- Civil dusk (−6°)
- 6:20 p.m. EST · 23:20 UTC
- Nautical dusk (−12°)
- 6:50 p.m. EST · 23:50 UTC
- Astronomical dusk (−18°)
- 7:20 p.m. EST · 00:20 UTC
Twilight times at the pad (Wallops, VA) for the evening of the launch.
What's a rocket jellyfish? When a rocket launches in twilight, the ground is dark but its exhaust plume climbs into sunlight high above. The expanding plume glows against the dark sky in a jellyfish-like shape.
Space-Object Catalog
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