Bigger, faster, farther: A batch of new rockets is set to blast into space this year

The rocket's various parts are being assembled at Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of its first flight. Ariane 6American space companies are not the only ones busy designing new rockets that could take flight this year. No specific date has been announced yet for the first test flight. The rocket will launch from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center, on the southeast coast of Tanegashima, an island south of Kyushu. Though not a new rocket, California-based Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket for the first time on U.S. soil Jan. 24.