Christchurch aerospace entrepreneur Mark Rocket is set to become the first New Zealander to go to space, fulfilling a dream he’s had since childhood.
Rocket’s booked on board a Blue Origin suborbital flight from Texas, though the date hasn’t yet been announced.
It will be the 12th human space flight from Jeff Bezos’s space tourism venture.
Rocket, who changed his surname years ago to match his lifelong passion, said space travel is something he thinks about “all the time”.
“Ever since I was a kid. I’ve always been fascinated by space technology and space travel. I remember at primary school I did a project about the planets,” Rocket said.
Christchurch man Mark Rocket is booked on board Blue Origin’s twelfth human space flight. (Source: Breakfast)
“I’ve always been fascinated by the concepts of space and infinity. Essentially, we live in a solar system which is vast, a galaxy which is vast, and this incredible universe. which is just hard to imagine the concepts. So I’ve always found that really compelling.”
The New Shepard rocket system he will travel on blasts off vertically, reaching more than 100kms above Earth, before returning to the ground under parachutes. The entire flight lasts around 11 minutes but Rocket says he’s not fazed by the duration.
“Certainly, the trip itself is pretty short, but buckling in, getting ready to experience 3Gs of rocket-powered flight up to space will be pretty phenomenal.”
Once in space, the crew can unbuckle and fly around the cabin in zero gravity, which Rocket said will be a “major milestone”.
Rocket’s already a well-established figure in the aerospace scene in New Zealand. He was a seed investor and co-director of Rocket Lab until 2001 and is now president of the industry body Aerospace New Zealand.
Most of his focus though is his company Kea Aerospace, which is developing solar powered, uncrewed aircraft to reach the stratosphere. The aircraft can be used to collect high resolution Earth observation data.
The previous Blue Origin flight was crewed by a raft of American celebrities, including Gayle King and Katy Perry, and watched by Oprah Winfrey and some of the Kardashians.
Rocket’s not expecting such high-profile fanfare on his mission. “I know who the crew is, and there’s no Brad Pitt or Jennifer Aniston on board! So, I won’t be expecting the red carpet treatment from Jeff Bezos.”
It’s been a long journey to get this close to lift off. Rocket first bought a ticket to space in 2006 on board a Virgin Galactic rocket. However, the company experienced a range of issues and delays. He eventually cashed in his ticket after getting to 38th in the queue, and jumped over to the Blue Origin operation.
All ticketholders are contractually barred from disclosing how much they paid, but it’s estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“No I’m not scared. I think there’s a lot more risk in driving a car down the road,” he said.
