WELLINGTON: A private New Zealand-based company joined the exclusive space-race club on Thursday with the successful launch of a Rocket Lab test craft named Electron.

The rocket blasted off from the company’s facility at Mahia, on the east coast of the North Island, to end three days of launch attempts aborted because of the weather. “Made it to space. Team delighted. More to follow!” aerospace company Rocket Lab tweeted as New Zealand became the 11th country to launch into space.

It was the world’s first successful launch from a private site, and was seen as a further advancement in the move towards private enterprise carrying small satellites and other cargo towards the stars.

“In the past, it’s been countries that go to space, not companies,” said Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Peter Beck. “We’re one of a few companies to ever develop a rocket from scratch and we did it in under four years. We’ve worked tirelessly to get to this point. We’ve developed everything in house, built the world’s first private orbital launch range, and we’ve done it with a small team.” However, while the rocket reached space, it did not reach orbit.

The launch is the first of three planned tests before Rocket Lab begins providing customers commercial satellite opportunities.

The 55.7-foot rocket — which uses an engine with 3D-printed and battery-powered components — is said to have reached speeds of more than 27,000 kilometres per hour during the two-and-a-half-minute flight into space.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2017