Rocket Lab Pushes Neutron First Launch to 2027, Shares Fall About 10 Percent

Updated 21:20 UTC, October 15, 2026. Developing story.

Rocket Lab has pushed the first launch of its Neutron rocket into 2027, the company said in an update after the market closed on Wednesday, October 14. The company had previously targeted the fourth quarter of 2026 for the inaugural flight, Reuters reported. Rocket Lab gave no quarter for the new date.

Shares fell hard on Thursday, October 15. The stock dropped as much as 16 percent during the day and was down about 10 percent in afternoon trade, near 52.73 dollars, after closing at 59.18 dollars on Wednesday. It had already fallen about 6 percent in extended trading on Wednesday after the update came out, Reuters reported.

Air pockets in a tank dome

Chief executive Peter Beck said inspectors found voids, tiny air pockets between layers of carbon fiber, in the forward propellant dome of the first stage. Such pockets can weaken a part and cut its reliability. Beck said the dome would not necessarily fail in flight, but the company would not fly it anyway. "Possible success isn't our standard," he said.

The problem followed an earlier failure. A first stage tank built earlier this year by an outside partner, using a manual hand layup process, failed its qualification test, Beck said. Rocket Lab then switched to its long term production method, automated fiber placement, and changed the design to remove some joints and thicken sections of the domes.

Rocket Lab says it has now made a replacement dome, which it called its highest quality dome yet. The part still has to be finished and tested this year. Beck said the full first stage tank should be assembled and tested in the first quarter of 2027, and the company expects to name a new launch date by early 2027, MarketWatch reported.

Why Neutron matters

Neutron is a reusable medium lift rocket, built to carry far heavier payloads than Rocket Lab's small Electron rocket. It is meant to win commercial satellite work, civil space missions and United States national security launches, a market now led by SpaceX and its Falcon 9. A later first flight means later revenue from those larger missions, while development spending continues.

The delay does not stop the rest of the business. Rocket Lab ended the second quarter with a record backlog of 2.36 billion dollars, and last month it signed a multi year deal with Tokyo based Synspective for 20 new Electron missions, Reuters reported.

Analysts cut targets, keep buy ratings

KeyBanc cut its price target on the stock to 100 dollars from 135 dollars and kept its overweight rating. Clear Street cut its target to 105 dollars from 129 dollars and kept a buy rating. Cantor Fitzgerald kept a buy rating and a 122 dollar target. The cuts reflect a later start for Neutron money, not a loss of faith in the rocket itself, based on the ratings the firms kept.

This is the second major slip this year for Neutron, Investor's Business Daily reported. In August, Rocket Lab had already softened the plan, saying it aimed to get the rocket to the launch pad in the fourth quarter rather than launch it then. Now the flight itself moves into next year, and investors will watch the first quarter tank tests for proof that the new dome fixed the problem.