Three Auckland men will create history by being the first Kiwis to send something into space from New Zealand.
Company Rocket Lab is planning the first ever launch into space from New Zealand soil on November 30 from the Corromandel.
Rocket Lab director Peter Beck says the event changes the status of the country.
"Once we successfully reach space, at that point New Zealand is essentially a space nation, which it currently is not."
Beck, 32, is the originial rocket man. He built a rocket bike when he was a teenager and has spent the last 15 years making things that shoot into space.
The nose of this rocket will reach 900 degrees celcius as it travels to an altitude of 120 kilometres into the atmosphere and falls back to the Pacific Ocean. The rocket, Manu Karere or bird messenger, will spend about half an hour in space.
Rocket Lab is a business venture to get people to pay to send things into space.
"This is certainly the first step - there is a massive opportunity to create a space industry in New Zealand," says self-confessed geek and primary investor Mark Rocket.
The task of building a rocket was not without its challenges, as the US government will not let the company buy any material. They have therefore made it all themselves.
"Ironically enough, the very products we can't buy out of the United States we now get enquiries from the United States to buy from us," says Beck.
He says they also want to give ordinary New Zealanders the chance to be part of history.
An auction has been put up on Trade Me to win a VIP seat at the launch and 100 grams of personal payload to send to space.
Beck says they are pretty relaxed about exactly what people may want to send up - it could be a photo, DNA or even advertising.
The first bid on the Trade Me auction was for $3,000.
