'Rocket man' hopes to be first Kiwi in space

A Christchurch man says he is looking forward to becoming New Zealand's first "rocket man" as he prepares for a ride into space.

The internet entrepreneur and father of one, who has changed his name to Mark Rocket, says he has paid $300,000 for a flight into space on Virgin Galactic's eight-person space craft, The Press reports today.

Taking off from the Mojave Desert, near Los Angeles in 2008, he would go from zero to the speed of sound in less than eight seconds. He would blast straight up to 120km above Earth at three times the speed of sound and spend about 10 minutes in space.

Mr Rocket has dreamed of space flight since he was captivated by the 1970s movie Star Wars. He made it his goal in 2000 and says it has now become his passion.

It even led him to change his name, though he won't say from what.

Mr Rocket says he has already visited the International Space Development Conference and the rocket development factory in California, where the spacecraft for commercial flights is being built from the successful one-person prototype which flew in space two years ago.

"I guess I'm just a real space nut," Mr Rocket said.

- NZPA