The World's First 3D-Printed Rocket Is About to Launch

An almost entirely 3D-printed rocket is ready to blast off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, then head for low Earth orbit. Scheduled for a three-hour launch window that opens at 1 pm Eastern time tomorrow, the inaugural launch of Relativity Space's Terran 1 rocket will constitute a major milestone for the California-based startup, and for expanding the use of 3D printing in the space industry. Relativity and similar companies envision ultimately using the technology to construct tools, spacecraft, and infrastructure while in orbit, on the moon, or on Mars--in those cases, utilizing lunar and Martian dirt for building materials. But first, company engineers want to see how Terran 1 fares on this crucial test flight, an event the company has dubbed "Good Luck, Have Fun." "The number one goal for our rocket is to collect as much data as possible and learn as much as possible from the flight," says senior vice president Josh Brost. He and his colleagues will be closely watching its path through the stratosphere as it reaches a trajectory point called "max q" about a minute after launch, when intense dynamic pressure will put stresses on rocket.