Transcript of the interview with Mark Rocket, Kea Aerospace, April 2026
Mark Rocket travelled to space aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-32 mission on 31 May 2025.
Hari Mogoșanu: We’re here at Kea Aerospace, and we’re talking to Mark Rocket, which is very, very exciting.
We’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time.
Mark Rocket: So have I.
Hari Mogoșanu: And we really want to ask you: what did it feel like? The moment you realise that you’re actually there, that it’s happening.
Mark Rocket: It was a dream come true for many years of imagining what it would be like to ride a rocket into space and experience zero gravity. It was an incredible time.
Preparing for Spaceflight
We arrived a couple of days before the flight and did some flight training. The first day of flight training was just coming up to speed with the mission profile, how it was gonna work, getting familiar with the space capsule, getting familiar with working with our fellow crew members.
There were 6 people on our crew. We had to have a call sign, so my call sign was Kea – the New Zealand Mountain parrot here in the South Island. And I was seat number six, so I was the first one on and the last one off. You’ve got only one door, so it meant that I had to wait for everyone else to get out if there was an emergency evacuation, which made me a little bit nervous.
The first day was really just getting up to speed with all that stuff. And then the second day was more about events that weren’t nominal, things that went wrong. We were basically rehearsing what we would do in different scenarios if it was a bad day. Or just one that wasn’t quite going to plan. There were oxygen masks inside and, if there was a fire, what could you do? Or if you couldn’t get back to your seat when you’re going through the reentry process, what do you have to do? So there were a whole lot of interesting things that we did on that second day.
And also we went out to the launch site and that was really cool. Just working through what we would do the next day and obviously you’ve got a rocket that’s full of propellant, which is highly explosive. So you don’t want to kind of muck around there and have a picnic, you’ve got to limit yourself. There was like a safe room that was up on the launch gantry where we stayed initially for a few minutes before we boarded the spacecraft.
Launch Day
Then the third day was launch day and I think I turned up at the training facility around 6.30 AM. We had a bit of preparation, and then around 8 AM, we drove out to the launch site, and that was really exciting, and we’d sort of rehearsed the whole thing, so we kind of knew exactly what was going on. It felt pretty comfortable and familiar, which was great. We went out there, took some photos and all that jazz, but then, yeah, got on board the capsule, had about half an hour before takeoff, which is a bit nerve-wracking because you’re sitting on top of that explosive propellant.
But, yeah, seeing all the pipes, you know, they’re all frozen and there’s gas venting everywhere, and it was quite exciting. And I got strapped in and then, we got to the ten-second countdown and as the rocket took off, it was just like a smooth kind of elevator ride and just started all very, very steady and slow, but then it gets faster and faster. And you start seeing the cloud layers going: “Wjum wjum wjum” by you. But it was a pretty, good blue sky kind of day, and it was kind of hard to get a feeling for the speed, but you could see on the console what speed you were doing. And the actual top speed we got to, which is actually during reentry, was about 3775 kilometres per hour.
Hari Mogoșanu and Sam Leske: Wow.
Mark Rocket: So super fast. So I think I’m actually at the moment New Zealand’s fastest Kiwi, which is pretty cool… But yeah, it just got faster and faster. One of the things they don’t really show you on the video is the rocket does this sort of autonomous adjustment. So you can feel it go, shoot, shoot, shoot, I think there were some thrusters that were just sort of moving around, keeping it on alignment because it was obviously a fully autonomous robotic spacecraft. So there’s no pilot on board. You’re basically reliant on the computers having a good day and the programming is top notch. So as it got faster and faster and you could feel the rocket kind of adjusting, the adrenaline started to really get going. And then we had the engine cut off, and then a few seconds later, stage separation. And when that stage separation happens, you’re pretty much in a zero gravity environment at that point.
Weightlessness and the Blackness of Space
And what I found quite interesting was adjusting from that high speed, adrenaline rush, and in about 10 seconds, you’re in 0 gravity, and you’ve just got to kind of breathe through it. And initially, I didn’t want to undo my seatbelt because I was still…, I had so much adrenaline from the feeling of launch. But I unbuckled and did a few flips and looked out the window.
But seeing the blackness of space was quite phenomenal. And actually, I heard one of the Artemis astronauts talking about that. I mean, looking at the Earth was incredible, but just that immense blackness of space, I found it quite an emotional experience. It was quite compelling. And you sort of think about the Earth orbiting the Sun in this vastness, but to kind of see, to see it is quite, quite a profound kind of feeling. Yeah, just that blackness and it’s kind of a little bit ominous and, you know, you just, you just yeah, it’s.
Hari Mogoșanu: New Zealand is used to that colour black, right?
Mark Rocket: Yeah, so it was quite intimidating, and it made me think about those 1st Apollo astronauts, Apollo 8, you know, the ones that headed out from the orbit of the Earth, based on a mathematical calculation, they thought they would be able to reach the Moon and orbit around the Moon and come back again with such basic technology in those 1960s. I just thought they were incredibly brave people to do that. Experiencing that zero gravity, looking out of the window, it was, I think it was about 3.5 minutes, so it was pretty intense. The whole rocket flight was 10 minutes. So it’s just a really intense time, but I remember every minute of it. It was just incredible. And then you get a bit of a chime that goes off in the cabin to buckle up and get ready, and within a minute, you’re doing about 5 G’s.
So you want to buckle up fast and that was part of the training. You did a lot of training on how to get into the seat quickly. Otherwise, you’re lying on the floor flat doing 5 G’s, and if there was a problem, an off-nominal kind of moment, then you’re gonna probably be a little bit bruised at the end of it.
Returning to Earth
So, you get into the seat and then, coming back down for reentry was pretty exciting as well. You’re actually, as I said, going faster, coming back down. And then waiting for the drogue chute to deploy because you’re going about 500 kilometres per hour once you get through the atmosphere. So that’s not going to make for a soft landing. You really want to have the parachutes deployed. Getting the drogue chutes and then a little while later you had the main chute and, at that point, you know that you’re going to have a good afternoon.
Sam Leske: So, when we’re watching Artemis 2 come back as one of the main chutes deployed, it was like, yes, now they are safe.
Mark Rocket: Yeah, they took quite a while. You saw the drogue chutes and then it took quite a while for them.
Sam Leske: Yeah, one minute to come up.
Mark Rocket: Yeah, It’s an incredible technology. I know SpaceX, they put a lot of thought into the Dragon capsule. They, I think they had, a lot of issues with the parachute deployment because there are so many factors that can affect how those parachutes open up.
What surprised Mark most
Hari Mogoșanu: What surprised you most once you were up there?
Mark Rocket: Uh, yeah, I mean, it was just a really condensed time, so I was just trying to make the most of it. I knew this could be a once in a lifetime experience and I just really wanted to treasure each moment and stay in the moment and just sort of breathe in and be there. So, I don’t know. Again, just seeing the blackness of space, probably, I didn’t expect to have that emotional reaction that I did. And overall, it was just a phenomenal experience. I’m hoping that in the future, it’ll be more and more accessible and we can use sustainable fuels and sustainable technologies to enable thousands of people to go up to space, just in the same way that people can choose what their lifetime adventure is, whether that’s climbing Everest or going to down the Amazon or visiting the pyramids, I’m hoping that, in the next ten, twenty years, space will be one of those choices where you can decide to fulfil that dream.
Earth’s thin atmosphere
Sam Leske: How was the atmosphere? How did that look? Like the blue between the ground and the blackness of space?
Mark Rocket: Well, it is very thin, and it’s like the skin of an apple. People, they see, looking up, they see the big blue sky, and it just looks endless, right? But the reality is there’s no human habitation above 5 kilometres altitude*. So pretty much humans just live in the five kilometres from sea level. So the breathable atmosphere for humans is very, very thin, and then if you go up to one hundred kilometres – that’s designated by scientists as having such low density, that is space. But, the reality is it’s only that five kilometres that you’ve got most of that air density where living creatures can survive. Certainly from one hundred kilometres it looks pretty thin and I can imagine as you go further out from an altitude that it would look thinner – and obviously that’s what astronauts say. It’s fragile, tenuous, and we really need to look after our planet, look after our environment.
*Editor’s note: Permanent settlements exist at and slightly above 5,000 metres. Mark’s point in this conversation was that the overwhelming majority of humans live within a very thin layer close to sea level.
The Overview Effect and Sustainability
Hari Mogoșanu: So tell us about the overview effect.
Mark Rocket: I’ve always had those thoughts about the environment that we’ve got to protect the environment and we do the little things we can, whether it’s electric cars or whatever it is, there are things that we try doing.. You, know… Have a plant-based diet. There’s some things I could probably do better on and some things I got to keep chipping away at. But I think, governments, we, need to move away from fossil fuels. We need to really look at what our sustainable actions are. And I think on one hand, space exploration at the moment has got rockets that aren’t ideally suited for the environment. But if we can use more sustainable technologies and we learn to live in space, then living in space is really all about closed loop environments where you have to be sustainable. You have to recycle everything. And if humans do go to the Moon, they do go to Mars, we’re going to have to learn to be even more conscious of our environment and sustainability and recycling.
So I’m hoping that that will make a positive difference. We definitely need to kick out the leaders that are making the wrong decisions and pushing us in the wrong direction and holding us back.
How Students Can Enter the Space Sector
Hari Mogoșanu: What should a student in New Zealand do in the next 12 months if they want to work in space? And, you’re not a traditional astronaut. What path did you take instead?
Mark Rocket: Yeah, well, there are so many different flavours of people that are working in the aerospace industry. Certainly there’s a lot of engineers and there’s a lot of different types of engineers, but you’ve got people that are working on software or computer hardware. You’ve got people working on social media. You’ve got people working on human resources. There’s a whole wide range of different capabilities that an aerospace company needs. It just depends on what roles you’re interested in, but if you are wanting to work specifically in the aerospace industry, then it always helps to have a portfolio of aerospace projects that you’ve done, even whether writing about certain interests in the space area, so when you hand your resume into that aerospace company, so they know that you’re passionate about that sort of role and that makes you stand out from people that maybe just have a passing interest in aerospace. So I would suggest that if you are interested in wanting to work in an aerospace company, then start working on projects and really start upskilling yourself on the different interests that you have. And obviously aerospace encompasses a wide range of companies. So it could be a space company, but it could also be advanced aviation. So at my company, Kea Aerospace, we’re building solar powered aircraft that fly in the stratosphere. We’re an aviation company, an advanced aviation company, that is developing solar powered gliders that fly at extremely high altitudes.
And then you’ve got drone companies working on all sorts of environmental through to other application drone- type businesses. Then you’ve got autonomous systems, eVTOL aircraft, then we could find that there’s like Uber air taxis in the next ten, twenty years that are gonna come along with electric vehicles. There’s a whole wide range of really exciting aerospace companies. That are doing interesting things; then, in Southland, you’ve got the space radar-type companies, the ground station. There are so many different aerospace technologies that we use in our everyday lives, and if it is a passion, then find the niches that you’re interested in and follow that passion.
An Unconventional Path into Aerospace
Hari Mogoșanu: You worked in the aerospace industry for many years. Probably more than many people here. What do you think it’s that people misunderstand most about the space industry?
What’s a bias that you came across?
Mark Rocket: There are many different ways, many different entry points into the aerospace industry, and I probably came through a back door a little bit. I didn’t sort of do the conventional degree or master’s degree or PhD. I didn’t even make it to university. I come from an internet background. I started off as an office person in an internet company, and then I started my own company, and then I started a couple of internet companies, and one of those companies, I went on to sell, and that put a bit of fuel in my tank and enabled me to follow my dreams, which was in the aerospace industry. I then became an investor in Rocket Lab, and that really enabled me to pursue this interest. Before that, I think, you know, well, I signed up with Virgin Galactic, which was selling tickets.
Hari Mogoșanu: I remember. Yeah. In 2012, we were talking about this.
Mark Rocket: If you have that opportunity to pursue your dreams, then you get in and back it up and take the actions. I really wanted to support Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin. I believe that if you support the technology by buying a ticket or whatever you can do, that will help make it real. Even the Prius. I bought a Toyota Prius because I wanted to, and it was a hybrid car, but I wanted to see electric cars emerge. You’ve got to get in and support the technologies that you want to see flourish in the future.
Turning a Dream into Action
Hari Mogoșanu: Well, you are a man of your word. You told me you wanted to be the first New Zealander in space.
Mark Rocket: Well, that was one of the things, as signing up with Virgin Galactic, I was basically the first Kiwi to sign up for that. And I was surprised, I mean, Virgin Galactic got kind of held up a little bit and I was waiting, but they just didn’t quite get it together. They still might develop something.
Hari Mogoșanu: Are you still on the list?
Mark Rocket: Uh, no, I cashed in my ticket and then I started to explore with Blue Origin and luckily, I managed to sort of jump on to their option. But I was surprised no one else had done that and someone else would have easily been able to get in line before me. But for some reason, no other Kiwis decided to go with them.
Hari Mogoșanu: So maybe sometimes you just have to ask.
Mark Rocket: Yeah, I think, as I said, you’ve got to follow up with your actions. You know, you can’t just talk about it if you want to see battery technology or different types of technology emerge.
You’ve got to get in and back it up and support it. I think taking action is a key aspect to whatever you want to pursue.
Why Space Matters on Earth
Hari Mogoșanu: Why should we care about space here on Earth?
Mark Rocket: Well, as I touched on before, I think developing sustainable colonies in space will help us to develop sustainable technology here on Earth, and we saw the Apollo programme and all the amazing technologies that spawned from that Apollo programme, and it really kickstarted a whole lot of really exciting technologies that we use today. So from a technology perspective, having a backup plan, obviously the dinosaurs were around for many millions of years, but they never managed to get off the Earth. I think the reality is, if we’re looking at a long, long-term plan for your community, putting all your eggs in one basket is probably not the best idea.
But I’m hoping that the overview effect, you know, the more people that can get up there, the more people can see there are no country borders, we’re all in this one spaceship together. And I’m hoping that we will work together for a better future.
Quick-Fire Questions
Hari Mogoșanu: I’ll do a rapid-fire round of questions.
First job.
Mark Rocket: First job? Well, I was working in a horticultural business.
So, yeah, I was basically, yeah, on a farm. Yeah.
Sam Leske: That’s awesome!
Hari Mogoșanu: Favourite sci-fi.
Mark Rocket: Oh, that’s a tough one. I mean, there’s so many great… Are we talking about books or movies or? I read a lot of sci-fi books but I really like the first Alien movie. I like the gritty realism of that film. It is so cool.
Mark Rocket: One thing that movies got wrong about space?
There’s a lot of things. You know, it kind of annoys me with Star Wars, it’s a little bit surreal, you don’t see people eating and going to the toilet and that sort of realities of life don’t enter that so much. But, it’s great to have those sort of fantastic type movies, but I kind of like the gritty realism where this is what the future is actually going to look like.
Hari Mogoșanu:Coffee or sleep?
Mark Rocket: Sleep?
Mark’s Advice to Students
Hari Mogoșanu: What is the one thing you want the students to remember most from today?
Mark Rocket: Just follow your dreams, you know, I came from very humble beginnings.
My parents weren’t any kind of version of rich, my father was a welder in a factory, I didn’t do very well at school. I didn’t know even when I finished high school, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. It can take quite a while to work it out. So, yeah, I think it’s about trying to identify what you’re passionate about and then take action and follow that passion.
See a Piece of New Zealand’s Space History
When Spaceward Bound NZ visits schools, students can see a New Zealand Aerospace pin that travelled to space with Mark Rocket, together with the NS-32 mission patch – which is the featured photo of this post.
These objects help students connect the science of spaceflight with a real New Zealand story. They can examine the mission symbols, learn about Mark’s journey, and consider how Aotearoa participates in the global aerospace community.
Would you like Spaceward Bound NZ to bring this piece of space history to your school?
