Kiwi scientists miss history-making rocket

Professor Sergei Gulyaev (centre), and colleagues Tim Natusch (left) and Stuart Weston will track the rocket's flight from their Warkworth station. Photo / Greg Bowker

Tonight was meant to be an exciting end to two long weeks of work for a group of AUT professors tracking the first private space flight's re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere - instead their subject went zooming overhead and out of sight this afternoon.

AUT University's radio astronomy observatory north of Auckland was contracted to track the re-entry into Earth's atmosphere of the first private space flight to the International Space Station.

California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) launched its 55m-tall Falcon 9 rocket, topped with the gumdrop-shaped Dragon space craft, from Cape Canaveral on May 22.

It berthed at the station station on Friday and was due to start a six-hour descent about 6.30pm today.

But the Dragon detached early, meaning it hit orbit at a slightly different directory and was not within New Zealand's sights.

"It's such a delicate science and this being the first private space flight up there. With the take-off it's quite easy to get the times right, but re-entry's not so easy,'' said AUT spokeswoman Georgina Hammond.

The professors were "so disappointed'', she added.

"We're watching and we've been told we will be called in if needed, but what's happened is it's passed over us, passed out of the New Zealand skies ...''

Not all is lost. The professors are contracted to track the next 11 missions by SpaceX, about four a year.

Professor Stuart Weston was meant to be one of two men at the observatory tracking the Dragon, and this morning told APNZ it was a childhood dream coming true.

"I'm just over 50, I grew up during the Apollo era, I was a little kid watching the Apollo and then I thought wouldn't it be great to work for Nasa, to be involved in the space industry, or something like that, for me it's like a childhood dream about 40 years later.''

AUT's Institute of Radio Astronomy and Space Research was approached by SpaceX about a year ago and asked to track Dragon's re-entry into the atmosphere because of New Zealand's location and AUT's experience with space agencies including Nasa.

Institute director Professor Sergei Gulyaev said New Zealand would become more involved in space flights thanks to its ``fantastic'' location on the globe.

Initial flights by SpaceX, owned by PayPal founder Elon Musk, will deliver cargo.