GisInt students enjoy chance to reach for the stars at Rocket Lab

SPECIAL VISIT: When the Gisborne Intermediate school camp at Mahia was cancelled in February because of Cyclone Gabrielle, the students also missed out on a planned visit to the Rocket Lab launch site. Rocket Lab made it up to them by inviting the students down for a special tour last week.

A “once-in-a-lifetime chance to dream big” is how one teacher described a school outing to Rocket Lab’s Mahia space port.

Gisborne Intermediate teacher Barry Huhu said the pupils appreciated the Rocket Lab team sharing their time and knowledge “and bringing the stars within reach”.

“To have an exceptional, international space facility in our region is amazing; to be given the opportunity to explore and learn about what they do — priceless.

“Our Gisborne Intermediate tamariki are truly inspired by the down-to-earth Rocket Lab team they met; people who were kids just like them, being able to achieve every big and small kid’s dream, right here on the east coast.

“The students were absolutely buzzing at the chance to be up close to a space rocket — a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! You don’t have to go far to dream big.”

Rocket Lab has two launch pads at its Launch Complex 1 at Onenui Station.

“Before Cyclone Gabrielle hit, about 70 students from Gisborne Intermediate were booked for their school camp in Mahia,” Rocket Lab communications director Morgan Bailey said.

“Following the devastation of the storm to their region, the school camp was cancelled — and sadly many of those kids have lost out on a lot more than just camp.

“We wanted to make sure the students still had an awesome learning experience outside the classroom — maybe even an out-of-this-world space learning experience — so we arranged for them to tour Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 last Thursday to get them stoked about space and STEM.

“Because LC-1 is a busy operational site, school visits are rare so these kids are among a small group of folks worldwide to get up close to the launch pads. The kids learned all about the Electron (rocket) and satellite integration, learned about specialised weather balloons and their role in launch, and got up close to the launch mount.”