Sci-fi geek who signed for $300,000 peek into space

Mark Rocket with a model of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic spacecraft. Picture / Simon Baker

He's a sci-fi geek, with a name to match. But Mark Rocket does not just dream of space adventure, he plans to live it.

The Christchurch internet businessman is set to become the first New Zealander to go into space with the first wave of commercial space tourists blasting off in 2008 at a cost of $300,000.

Mr Rocket - he changed his surname as "a bit of lark" that became a fixture - has signed up to join Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic company aiming to be the first to make space tourism a commercial reality.

"My number one aim is to just get up into space. I'm the first [New Zealander] to book and that's all I know at this stage," Mr Rocket said.

A ballot will be drawn to decide who gets on the first planned Virgin Galactic flights in 2008. International celebrities and Mr Branson's own family will be among the first to go.

The tourists will be launched into space from California's Mojave Desert at more than three times the speed of sound and will experience zero gravity in the 10 minutes travelling above the Earth. The whole flight will last about two hours.

"I have just got back from Los Angeles, where Virgin Galactic people got together and we had a tour of the Mojave Desert rocket factory, and talked to the designers.

In 2000, Mr Rocket wrote of his dream to go into space in a list of goals.

Did he think it was realistic back then? "Not really."

Over the years it became more likely. He got on to the Virgin Galactic website and received a call back the same day. "They outlined the package and it sounded absolutely fantastic. It's a great privilege and I'm very excited about the technology."

Like many children of his era, the Star Wars movies captured his imagination. "When I was seven years old ... that had a pretty huge impression on me and I have never recovered from that.

"I certainly watch anything sci-fi, read a lot of science fiction and technology."

So does that make him a geek? "Yeah, I guess you could say that. But I think geek is not such a bad word these days."