8/10/2023 0 Comments Peter beck rocket lab![]() They eventually got it going and Mr Beck took off on it during one of Mr Childs’ classes. ‘‘They were hellbent on it so I said it’ll be right.’’ Mr Childs reluctantly agreed they could use it. ![]() One of the group had found a tailboard motor which was more like 200cc. ‘‘I was thinking, that will be OK, that will be a chainsaw motor, but it didn’t quite turn out like that.’’ There was one more condition - the motor could not be over 100cc. Mr Childs agreed the boys could make the bike on the condition he signed off the plans. One of group came from a farm, which made it easy enough to source the parts. PHOTO: ODT FILESIn Mr Childs’ technology class, pupils were given the task of making something and Mr Beck and his two friends decided they would build a farm bike. Mr Beck demonstrates his steam-powered bike in Dunedin’s Princes St, at the Festival of Speed, accelerating from zero to 140kmh in just under five seconds. ‘‘He was always in the ‘A’ lot, there is no doubt about that.’’ He still had old marking books and was sure Mr Beck’s marks would be in there somewhere. ‘‘I totally trusted those three blokes and I still would to this day,’’ he said. So good that Mr Childs trusted them inside the workshop during break times and before and after school, and it did not worry him. Mr Beck had two other good mates in those classes - ‘‘by God they were good’’, Mr Childs said. He believed he taught him for about three years in various technology classes. Mr Childs described Mr Beck as a ‘‘very dedicated’’ pupil. One of his teachers at James Hargest was Graeme Childs, who taught him technology and remembers him well. He attended Invercargill’s James Hargest College before leaving early, at age 17, to take up a toolmaking apprenticeship at Fisher & Paykel in Mosgiel in 1995. ![]() His father, Russell Beck, who died in 2018, was the former director for the Southland Museum and Art Gallery and his mother, Ann, was a teacher. Mr Beck grew up in Invercargill, born into a family who loved machines. Whether it was building motorbikes at secondary school or a dangerously over-powered rocket bike, he was always chasing crazy ideas. PHOTO: LAURA SMITHIn 2010, it was awarded a United States government contract from the Operationally Responsive Space Office, a joint initiative of several Department of Defence agencies, to study a low-cost space launcher to place CubeSats into orbit.īut to get the full story, you have to come back down to Earth to see where Mr Beck started and how an upbringing in Southland and early career at Fisher & Paykel, where he was encouraged to pursue his dreams, contributed to his success. Mr Beck with Noah Hackett (then 10) from Waihopai School during a visit to his hometown, Invercargill, in 2019. In 2009, Rocket Lab claimed to be the first private company in the southern hemisphere to reach space after launching its Atea-1 sounding rocket. The company, started in 2006 by Mr Beck, is an aerospace manufacturer and small satellite launch service provider. Most kids dream of building rockets and flying them to space - but Southland-born Peter Beck has actually done it and made a billion dollars in the process.Ī couple of weeks ago Mr Beck’s space business, Rocket Lab, had smooth takeoff on United States’ technology-focused Nasdaq stock exchange, its shares landing at a price valuing the company at $US5.2 billion ($NZ7.4 billion). Business reporter Riley Kennedy looks back to his southern launchpad to the world. Peter Beck’s love for creating stuff was always going to see him fly off into the galaxy of success. PHOTO: THE NEW ZEALAND HERALDHe went from tinkering with a farm bike at a Southland secondary school to rocketing on to the United States’ Nasdaq stock exchange. Rocket Lab founder Peter Beck, surrounded by some his rockets in 2018.
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