Rocket Lab adds new $7.5 million “Mission Success” coin to its online store
https://techcrunch.com/2019/12/16/rocket-lab-adds-new-7-5-million-mission-success-coin-to-its-online-store/
Rocket Lab’s merch store has pretty much what you’d expect from a space-themed gift shop – baby onesies, t-shirts, caps and mission patches. But the commercial rocket launch company just added its latest product, and it’s a bit different from their standard fare: For just $7.5 million, you can own a “Gold Mission Success coin” for a “dedicated mission,” in either LC-1 (Rocket Lab’s New Zealand launch facility) or LC-2 (the company’s new Virginia-based US launch site) flavors.
The coin is “triple plated gold,” but its material composition isn’t the reason for the high price. And in fact, there is a way to get one absolutely free – all you have to do is purchase a dedicated launch aboard one of Rocket Labs’ Electron launch vehicles. That makes sense because the cost for Rocket Lab’s dedicated launch services (when you’re not splitting the cost across a long list of small payloads from multiple customers) appears to be right in that range.