Rocket Lab’s January 21, 2026 update reported a rupture of Neutron’s first-stage tank during hydrostatic qualification testing. The company said there was no significant damage to test structures or facilities, the next tank was already in production and data were being reviewed for effects on the launch schedule. The website’s archive displays January 22; the original dateline and archive evidence are preserved separately. This was a ground qualification event, not a failed orbital launch. Testing structures to their limits is part of establishing margins, but that context does not identify the specific cause. No final investigation, repair plan or loss figure was disclosed. A schedule update was intended for February’s fourth-quarter earnings call. That is not a confirmed first-flight date, and a replacement tank in production is not a completed retest. The article separates the observed test anomaly, the manufacturer’s account and still-unresolved schedule consequences without inventing casualties or assigning a flight outcome.