Out of this world: A Kiwi ruler soars to new heights
A small step for man, but 30cm for a New Zealandmade icon. Hamish McNeilly reports.
Just how did a New Zealand ruler boldly go where so few have gone before? It has left Quintin Fowler over the moon. “I was shocked . . . I thought ‘what’.” So he watched it again.
And again.
That clip was a science experiment video uploaded to X (previously known as Twitter) by Nasa astronaut and photographer Don Pettit from his time on the International Space Station in 2012.
But like many New Zealanders who watched the clip, it was less about the experiment and more about the unlikely cameo. That involved the appearance of a 30cm clear plastic Taurus ruler proudly emblazoned with “Made in New Zealand” and featuring the kiwi logo.
Fowler is managing director of Avondale-based TCI New Zealand, one of the country’s largest privately owned injection moulding companies, producing the likes of plastic chairs, storage containers, rubbish bins, laundry baskets and, of course, rulers.
A spokesperson for Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston said they were making inquiries with their stowage and inventory team. Meanwhile, people on X also shared theories that included Professor Richard Easther, of the physics department at the University of Auckland, who tweeted at Pettit: “That flight was pre-Rocket Lab, so there is a decent chance the ruler is the first item manufactured in New Zealand to reach orbit :).”.
Easther told Stuff he received a message from Pettit’s son, who shed some light. It was almost certain that Pettit bought the ruler as he prepared for a six-week expedition to look for meteorites in Antarctica in 2009 – three years before his journey with the ISS.
Pettit likely picked up the ruler when based in Christchurch, prior to the expedition.
During his 2009 visit to Christchurch, Pettit told The Press that going on a space walk was like going on “a tramp in the wop-wops”. “It’s a very exciting and unusual activity for a human being to do. You only have one string of technology that protects you from disaster. It’s not like ‘look mum, no hands’.”