Rocket Lab Ltd. is the designer and manufacturer of the 6-meter (20-foot) long and 60 kilogram mass Ātea-1 rocket.

The weight of the rocket, on Earth, is approximately 150 pounds. The company is primarily owned by entrepreneur Mark Rocket.

The entire launch vehicle has an inert, dry mass (that is, without fuel) of less than 20 kilograms.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon, November 30, 2009, the Ātea-1 rocket lifted off from Great Mercury Island (also called Ahuahu), which is near Coromandel on North Island, and burned its rockets for 22 seconds.

A video of the launch is provided further on in this article.

The launch vehicle (rocket) was expected to reach an altitude of about 100 kilometers (60 miles) on its twenty-two-minute journey that reached a top speed of approximately 5,000 kilometers (3,100 mile) per hour—what is commonly called Mach 5 in aeronautics and astronautics.

The two-stage rocket returned to Earth on its sub-orbital flight, splashing down in the South Pacific Ocean.

This altitude is, so far, unconfirmed. Further information on the height reached by the rocket will be forthcoming as soon as the GPS signal onboard is relayed through the Inmarsat B satellite constellation to the recovery team.

Page two continues.

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"Ātea" is the word for "space" in the language Māori spoken by the indigenous population of New Zealand.

The launch was delayed for about five hours, twenty minutes after fueling problems cropped up during the countdown.

With the successful launch of Ātea-1, officials with Rocket Lab Ltd are reporting that the company is developing a larger rocket called Ātea-2. Both rockets have the capability to carry scientific payloads into space.

On this flight, the payload only had mass of about two kilograms. Its purpose was primarily to monitor the performance of the rocket.

The privately funded Ātea project is partially funded by the Foundation for Research, Science, and Technology. The project did not use any government funds.

According to the 11/30/2009 Business Week/Associated Press article “New Zealand company launches rocket to space,” the launch by the Ä€tea-1 rocket is the first private missile launch from the Southern Hemisphere.

The company’s primary owner and director, Mark Rocket, stated the reaction of observers to the successful flight. Rocket said, "A lot of people were crying. It was really dramatic."

Page three concludes with a video of the launch, along with future plans of Rocket Labs.

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A video of the Ātea launch is found on TVNZ "Second time lucky for NZ rocket launch."

In the near future, Rocket Labs would like to provide rockets and unmanned space launch facilities for business ventures and scientists.

According to the 12/01/2009 National Business Review article “NZ rocket blasts off - and so will profits, maker says,” Peter Beck, an executive officer with Rocket Lab, stated, “Once Atea-1 is proven and begins commercial flights, every launch should be profitable.”

And, “There is a queue of international clients waiting for the rocket to be qualified. Most are science organisations - Rocket Lab’s target market - but some are private companies."

"Many companies are trying to get into low-cost, low-orbit launches but once Atea-1 is qualified, Rocket Labs will have a monopoly on commercial launches from the Southern Hemisphere, said Mr. Beck.”

Rocket Lab is providing pioneering technology and specialized components to the international space industry.

According to its website, “Our aim is to provide innovative low-cost solutions that enable public access to space and develop a space industry within New Zealand. We are located within the laboratories of Industrial Research Limited in Auckland, New Zealand.”