2026-10-18 (editorial fold): merged the duplicate thread [2026-10-14-rocketlab-haste-hypersonic-tests] — duplicate coverage of the same HASTE story. Its dated entries follow, verbatim:
2026-10-14 seeded from the space digest (the 12-flights figure is company-claimed, restated against no standing entry — a prior false-positive restate drop). Watch: HASTE contract announcements, flight counts vs Electron's commercial cadence.
2026-10-14 (first record): Brian Rogers (VP Global Launch Services) says Rocket Lab plans 12 hypersonic tests in 2026; HASTE is the suborbital Electron carrying test payloads at speeds above 7.5 km/s (Kuocoin/Zhitong Finance, ~8:20 AM ET; Futu's Zhitong relay, same minute; MSN version 12:20 AM ET with stock framing). No per-test schedule, customer list, or backlog treatment yet. Watch: how many of the 12 are booked into commercial backlog, whether HASTE develops its own revenue identity, and the Iridium/Neutron runway that dominates the main RKLB thread. kucoin.com/news ; news.futunn.com/en
Background
The thread: Rocket Lab's HASTE — the Electron-derived hypersonic test-flight service — as a named line of the company's business (claimed 12 test flights); the record's RL threads (backlog, Neutron, Iridium) are launch-vehicle/customer threads; this is the specialized-services lane.