New Zealand has now joined the handful of countries who have active launch programmes and can only go upwards from here, a professor said.
Professor of physics at the University of Auckland Richard Easther said the significance of Rocket Lab's successful launch to orbit last weekend couldn't be underestimated.
"On the one hand they've still got a road to travel but on the other hand it's a huge milestone. A huge number of companies have entered that arena and not been able to deliver a successful launch so they really are ahead of the pack at the moment."
The professor said it meant the country joined the league of world powers such as the United States, Russia, China and smaller militarised countries like North Korea.
"We're a small country who have done it purely as a commercial enterprise rather than something that has been justified by military expenditure where there's probably a much greater tolerance for failure."