Rocket Lab founder and chief executive Sir Peter Beck (inset) has shared many images of previously-secret hardware in his new book, The Launch of Rocket Lab. Herald composite photo
‘Rocket Lab’s soaring success has seen founder and chief executive Sir Peter Beck’s personal wealth estimated this month at a whopping $6.2 billion.
Since launching 19 years ago, the company has grown to be in competition with private space companies owned by two of the world’s richest men: Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk.
His relationships with Bezos and Musk involve mutual respect, he said. Forbes lists Musk’s personal worth at $850b and Bezos’ at $407b.
“Some of our competitors have essentially infinite capital to burn,” Beck told the Herald in an exclusive interview from his base in America, ahead of the release of his new book this week, The Launch of Rocket Lab.
“I get on with those guys just fine,” Beck said.
The 49-year-old made Forbes’ real-time billionaires list earlier this month, but said Rocket Lab’s greatest financial success wasn’t making him a billionaire.
His proudest moment came when Rocket Lab was listed on the Nasdaq in mid-2021 and many of his staff received life-changing windfalls for their work.
“The thing that’s more fulfilling is all the millionaires you’ve made along the way,” he said.
“When we went public, there were 150 Rocket Lab staff [who] became instant millionaires and many more since. If we do well, they do well.
“An extra billion here and there makes no difference to me. I’ve had a lot of people... put their kids through school or pay off their mortgage... that’s life changing.”
Beck’s mission for the company is clear: “I’m trying to build the biggest space company in the world, that’s the plan.”
His day begins at about 4.30am when he heads to his company’s American HQ at Long Beach, California. He says work is on his mind until his bedtime around 10-11pm.
Beck leaves Rocket Lab HQ as close to 5pm as he can each day, he said, so he can have dinner with his wife, Kerryn, and their two children.
Beck met Kerryn – who is also a designer – years ago when they both worked at Fisher & Paykel.
The couple are deeply protective of their family, never authorising the publication of their children’s photos, names or ages.
“We try and keep the kids out of the limelight,” Beck told the Herald. “They are their own people.”
He jokes that his workload means he “probably won’t be winning any awards” when it comes to being father of the year.
“We’ll always sit around the dinner table,” he said.
“And then we’ll all disappear off, I’ll go back to work, my wife will go and do her thing, and the kids will go and do their thing. There’s no sort of lounging around in front of a television; everybody’s got missions and plans.”
Rocket Lab is valued at around $43b and last year had sales of almost $760 million.
The value of company shares on the Nasdaq this week fluctuated between US$67.65- US$64.70 ($116.05 -$112.67).
From its beginnings in June 2006, Rocket Lab has undertaken 75 orbital launches – including deploying more than 230 satellites – and is now a launch provider partner for Nasa.
While still launching from its initial pad at Mahia – on the northeastern Hawke’s Bay coastline - the company now has a second site in Virginia.
The company’s growth now sees it competing with Musk’s SpaceX and Bezos’ Blue Origin in the private space race.
“It’s incredibly competitive, not just in the United States, but globally,” Beck told the Herald.
The billionaire doesn’t drink coffee, rarely wears a suit and avoids formal meetings whenever possible.
It’s a rule of Rocket Lab meetings that if an attendee isn’t adding value - they should leave.
“I much prefer to just arrive at people’s desks and have impromptu discussions than call formal meetings,” he told the Herald.
Apart from family dinner, Beck’s favourite way to unwind is to indulge his love of fast things: cars, choppers, planes and jets.
He owns a DeLorean sports car, a helicopter and a plane - an Aero L-39 Albatros ex-Ukrainian military fighter trainer jet with a top speed around 980km/h.
“The only way I can really unwind is to put myself in a position where I can’t think about anything other than what’s at hand,” he said.
“Nobody’s going to be roaring around a race car track thinking about the separation systems of a rocket.
“It’s a real escape to just walk out to a helicopter, go into a little bubble, and then for the time you’re there, you’re just 100% focused on that.”
Free time gives Beck an escape from being consumed by all things Rocket Lab; like the pending launch of two spacecraft built for Nasa that are set to head to Mars next month.
Beck says when they reach Mars’ orbit, 20% of all craft there “will have Rocket Lab logos”.
The company is also hoping to achieve a late-2025 debut launch of its bigger Neutron rocket, capable of carrying a 13,000kg payload to low Earth orbit, or up to 1500kg for missions to the Moon or Mars.
Previous launches have used the Electron rocket, which has a payload of about 300kg to the low Earth orbit.
Almost every part of a Electron craft is made in New Zealand.
Its increased size means the rocket will be “human flight capable”, and Beck said Rocket Lab “certainly” hadn’t ruled out taking human cargo into space one day.
“As more destinations arrive, then it will become obvious that there is a business case for that in the future,” he said.
Given the hyper-competitive nature of the private space race, Beck has previously avoided revealing too much about the inner workings and hardware of Rocket Lab.
But in The Launch of Rocket Lab, Beck and members of his team have revealed previously-held secrets about some of its hardware, and a vast collection of images.
“We put a lot of pictures of hardware in there, almost uncomfortably so, because generally [we] don’t show that level of detail,” Beck told the Herald. “But our hardware is just so goddamn beautiful that people need to see it.”
In the opening paragraph of his introductory chapter, Beck recalls a high school career counsellor telling his parents: “Your son needs to have more realistic expectations”.
The rest his history. Three decades on, he is a multibillionaire.
He hopes his story will inspire young Kiwis and other New Zealand entrepreneurs to chase their dreams, he said.
“I do a lot with New Zealand entrepreneurs,” he told the Herald. “And the number one thing I‘m always preaching is you’ve got to think bigger.
“In New Zealand... the technology is always good. The efficiency of execution is always great.
“But often the thing that’s missing is, ‘I’m just gonna take on the world and be the best in the world’.”
>> The Launch of Rocket Lab – published by HarperCollins – is released on October 28, with a RRP of $75.
- An earlier version of this story said Rocket Lab was considering a third base in Scotland. Rocket Lab has no active plans for a launch site in Scotland.
Neil Reid is a Napier-based senior reporter who covers general news, features and sport. He joined the Herald in 2014 and has 33 years of newsroom experience.
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