Mark Rocket was one of six passengers on Blue Origin’s 12th human spaceflight early yesterday (NZT). Video / Blue Origin
Christchurch aerospace entrepreneur Mark Rocket became the first Kiwi in space on Blue Origin’s NS-32 mission.
Rocket and five others reached 105km, experiencing zero gravity during the 11-minute sub-orbital flight.
Kea Aerospace founder and Rocket Lab seed investor and former co-director wants to inspire more Kiwis to get involved in New Zealand’s aerospace sector.
An aerospace entrepreneur who legally changed his surname to Rocket has become the first Kiwi in space, blasting off aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepherd NS-32 mission in West Texas early yesterday (NZT).
Christchurch’s Mark Rocket, five fellow space tourists and a New Zealand flag reached an altitude of 105km, takingthem just past the Kármán line, an abstract boundary 100km above Earth separating our planet’s atmosphere and space.
The daytime sub-orbital flight, which lasted 11 minutes from launch to touchdown, was an incredible experience that “blew away my expectations”, Rocket told the Herald.
“Since I was a little kid, I’ve dreamed of going to space, and to … ride a rocket, experience zero gravity.
“I had the black and white outline of what I expected, but to add all the colours to that picture was just incredible.”
The experience began with a “huge adrenaline rush” as the rocket-propelled spaceship climbed into the sky, with a smooth acceleration until reaching a speed of more than 3400km/h, Rocket said.
“As the rocket’s going up, it’s correcting itself along the way. So you feel it sort of going from side to side. It’s a pretty thrilling, exciting, and a little bit nerve-wracking … you want that rocket to keep pointed up in the right direction.
“Then the main engine shuts off, and then a few seconds after that, and you get stage separation, which is a huge clunk [as] basically most of your spaceship drops off below you.”
Blue Origin's NS-32 mission is shown during lift-off from West Texas yesterday on its sub-orbital space flight. Kiwi aerospace entrepreneur Mark Rocket was on board. Screengrab photo / Blue Origin
It’s then that those inside the passenger capsule experience zero gravity.
“It was really easy to get around ... a real sort of gentle way of moving. My legs flipped around over my head and I just found myself upside down. It was a surreal experience.
“You’ve got that sort of tranquility and ease of movement, and you’ve got to change your mindset pretty quickly to look out the window and really kind of live in the moment. That was a really intense, emotional experience.
“[And] you can see the vast blackness of space and the Earth below. It was amazing to experience that.”
Mark Rocket experiences weightlessness after reaching zero gravity onboard Blue Origin flight NS-32, which blasted off from Texas yesterday. Screengrab photo / Blue Origin
Weightlessnes was a "surreal experience", said Kiwi Mark Rocket, pictured during his sub-orbital flight into space on Blue Origin's NS-32 mission yesterday. Screengrab phot / Blue Origin
During two or three minutes of zero gravity Rocket unbuckled himself, with video showing the 54-year-old floating upside down as the curvature of the Earth filled the windows behind.
“Then you do want to get back to your seat pretty quickly, because as you start entering the Earth’s atmosphere, the Gs start to load up pretty quickly.
“It takes you up to 5Gs, it’s like five people’s body weight on top of you, and your face being stretched back. It’s only a few seconds and then as the atmosphere gets thicker, it slows down the spacecraft pretty quickly.”
The view from NS-32 during the Blue Origin flight's journey to 105km above the Earth yesterday. Kiwi Mark Rocket was one of six passengers on board. Screengrab photo / Blue Origin
Drogue parachutes followed by main parachutes allow the capsule to touch down safely, albeit with a “good thump”, Rocket said.
“It’s nothing too major, but you definitely know you’ve landed.”
Initially buying a ticket to board a Virgin Galactic rocket in 2006, the current president of Aerospace New Zealand changed to the Blue Origin programme after Virgin Galactic began experiencing delays and issues in launching its commercial space flights.
Kea Aerospace founder Mark Rocket at his firm's assembly plant in Christchurch in 2023. Photo / Chris Keall.
He wouldn’t say how much a seat on yesterday’s flight cost, having signed a non-disclosure agreement. Passengers spent two days in training for the mission.
Rocket, who was also a seed investor and co-director of Rocket Lab from 2007 to 2011, said before yesterday’s flight he wanted to inspire more Kiwis to get involved in the country’s fledgling aerospace sector.
“We have the talent, ambition, and ingenuity to make major contributions. Space is no longer the domain of superpowers and science fiction. It’s an exciting frontier for innovation, climate solutions, economic opportunity, and global collaboration.”
A “Star Wars-generation kid” who grew up reading books and watching films and news footage of US and Russian space exploration, he was also inspired by late New Zealand engineer and physicist William Pickering, Rocket said.
Christchurch man Mark Rocket emerges from the passenger capsule after becoming the first New Zealander to go into space. He was one of six passengers on space tourism company Blue Origin's NS-32 mission, a sub-orbital flight out of Texas. Screengrab photo / Blue Origin
Wellington-born Pickering led California’s Jet Propulsion Lab, which “took the world to the planets and led the US to pre-eminence in the 20th century space race”, according to Engineering New Zealand.
Yesterday’s NS-32 mission was Blue Origin’s 12th crewed flight and 32nd mission overall using the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos-owned space tourism company’s fully reusable New Shepherd rocket system.
The badge for Blue Origin's NS-32 space flight, which took a Kiwi - Mark Rocket - to space for the first time yesterday. Screengrab photo / Blue Origin
Rocket wasn’t sure if he’d one day return to space - but he’d like to.
“My wife is a bit close by, so I don’t want to say it too loudly, but yes, I’d love to fly again. It was incredible.”
Cherie Howie is an Auckland-based reporter who joined the Herald in 2011. She has been a journalist for more than 20 years and specialises in general news and features.
