Momentous day for rocket firm

The first rocket successfully launched from New Zealand is now tucked into orbit hundreds of kilometres above Earth.

The unmanned Electron rocket, named ‘Still Testing’, took off from Ma¯hia Peninsula on the East Coast at 2.45pm yesterday.

Cheers and clapping erupted throughout Rocket Lab’s Auckland mission control as it successfully reached orbit about 2.53pm.

A live stream video of the launch featured magnificent imagery of New Zealand as the 17-metre-long rocket powered away from Earth.

‘‘ Today represents a significant milestone in opening up access to space, to better understand our planet and improve life on Earth,’’ Rocket Lab said.

Richard Easther, a professor of physics at the University of Auckland, said the launch represented a ‘‘red-letter day for New Zealand’’.

‘‘To put this into perspective, we are now one of just a dozen countries to have successfully built and deployed a rocket that can put satellites into orbit,’’ Easther said.

The other nations are either world powers such as the USA and Russia, or smaller countries ‘‘which are armed to the teeth’’ such as Israel and North Korea.

Easther said that meant ‘‘New Zealand really stands alone with a technically advanced, commercially focussed launch vehicle’’.

He added it was ‘‘just the first chapter in what promises to be a fascinating story for the country and our technology and science sectors’’.

‘Still Testing’ carried three satellites into space from New Zealand. One of them will take images of Earth for United States company Planet Labs. The others will capture weather and ship tracking data for Spire Global.

This was the second rocket to be launched by the New Zealand aerospace company, but the first to make it into orbit.

A rocket launched in May 2017 saw lift-off, but failed to reach orbit.

Six attempts made by Rocket Lab to launch on Saturday failed for reasons including strong winds high in the atmosphere, a power fault, and excess liquid oxygen feeding into the rocket’s engine.

Rocket Lab plans to hold three test rocket launches before it operates commercially to carry satellites into orbit frequently, at a cost significantly lower than its competitors.