Star Trek Magazine – July 2019

02 Rocket

Lab’smission

control.

03 Everthe

pioneer,

Shatner

attemptsto

sneakon

boardthe

craft.

Afterthenervouslaughterhad

dieddown,Shatnergotserious

abouttheachievementsofRocket

Labanditschiefexecutive.

“Whata wonderfulplaceto

be:onthecuttingedgeofthis

technology,”Shatnersaid.Henoted

howhewasamazedRocketLab

couldputa payloadintospacefor

$5million,comparedtothebillions

ofdollarsthata U.S.launchcost:

“Wow!You’resendingrocketsup

forsucha smallpercentageofthe

priceit takesforusin America.

Whatwonderful,innovative,work

allofyouaredoing.It’sspecial.

I’mgladtobehere.You’reallvery

specialandI feelspecialforbeing

here.Thankyousomuch!”

A NEWSPACERACE

Thenew80,000square-footrocket

developmentandproduction

facilityaddstoRocketLab’sexisting

productionfacilityandheadquarters

in HuntingtonBeach,California.The

NewZealandfacilityrethinksthe

wayorbitalrocketsarebuilt,and

bringsRocketLab’smanufacturing

footprinttomorethan4.5acres,

enablingthecompanytobuildan

Electronrocketeveryweek.

“Thisis anincrediblyexciting

momentfortheteam,butalsofor

thespaceindustry,”Becksaid.“For

thepast 12 years,I’mconstantly

askedthesamequestion:Why

rockets?Whyspace?Whydo

allthis?In fact,I getaskedthat

questionsomuchthatI often

contemplatetattooingtheanswer

acrossmyforeheadtosavea bit

oftime.Buttherealityis,wegoto

spacetoimprovelifeonEarth.That

is thewholepointofwhatwedo.

”We’rein anincrediblyexciting

timerightnowin a neweraofsmall

“I never, ever, thought

in my life that I would

acknowledge William

Shatner at the beginning

of a speech.”

NEW ZEALAND PRIME
MINISTER JACINDA
ARDERN

02

03

WILLIAM SHATNER