Rocket Lab and Mahia make it on to New Zealand Post's new stamps

New Zealand Post is celebrating the landmark Rocket Lab achievement with a special set of commemorative stamps. Photo / Supplied

Mahia and Rocket Lab are doing a "first-class" job of representing Hawke's Bay and New Zealand, after being featured in new official stamp collection from NZ Post.

New Zealand Post is celebrating the landmark achievement of New Zealand becoming the 11th country in the world to launch a rocket into orbit, with a special set of commemorative stamps.

On Sunday January 21 this year, Rocket Lab launched its Electron rocket into low orbit from a launch site at Onenui Station on the Mahia Peninsula.

Achieving this milestone means New Zealand is receiving global recognition as a serious player in the aerospace industry, said NZ Post's head of stamps and coins, Simon Allison.

"This is an incredible moment for New Zealand as we make space history for the very first time.

"We are extremely proud to support the Rocket Lab team and wanted to celebrate the occasion with these very special stamps. This achievement has showcased the very best of our country's engineering talent and innovation.

"As the first privately operated orbital launch site in the world this was a significant event and we are very proud that it took place in New Zealand."

The stamps feature six photographs taken of Electron's journey into orbit, including the Humanity Star imaging satellite, which will rotate Earth and be visible to the naked eye from locations all over the world.

"We're very humbled to feature on New Zealand Post stamps following the successful orbital launch of Electron in January", Rocket lab chief executive peter Beck said.

"It's fantastic for our team to see their engineering and technical achievements commemorated this way."

After two successful rocket launch tests from Mahia, and a successful orbit deployment in January, Rocket Lab confirmed to Hawke's Bay Today that the next launch from Mahia would be fully commercial.

A date for the launch has yet to be set.

The new stamps can be ordered online at www.nzpost.co.nz/stamps and are on sale in PostShops.