As you likely already know, Rocket Lab’s 41st launch (We Will Never Desert You) suffered an anomaly immediately after stage separation:

Following lift-off from Launch Complex 1, the rocket successfully completed a first stage burn and stage separation as planned, before an issue was experienced at around T+ 2 minutes and 30 seconds into flight, resulting in the end of the mission. We are deeply sorry to our partners Capella Space for the loss of the mission. We are working closely with the FAA and supporting agencies as the investigation into the root cause commences. The Electron rocket has previously delivered 171 satellites to orbit across 37 successful orbital missions. We will identify the issue swiftly and implement corrective actions and return to the pad shortly. Our next mission, currently scheduled before the end of the third quarter, will be postponed while we implement corrective actions. We anticipate providing revised third quarter revenue guidance in the coming days.

There’s no point in speculating. And there’s certainly no justification for some of the dire predictions about the future of the company that I’ve seen on social media. Failure can be minimized in extreme endeavors but it cannot be eliminated. Planes will crash, cars will break down, ships will sink, and of course rockets will eventually fail in the most unpredictable and spectacular way. Hopefully this event will expose whatever latent vulnerability is hiding on that second stage and the company can get back to its aggressive tempo. I have faith that they will.