Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck regards winning the title of Sanitarium Innovator of the Year in the 2015 New Zealander of the Year Awards as a tribute to his team.
"It's always nice to be recognised, but for me it was even better to see the way the team responded to the award," he says.
"It's great to have such a diverse and experienced team behind me, and to see their passion for what we're trying to achieve."
Beck has been interested in space - particularly rocket engines - since he was a boy.
Frustrated with the slow pace of change in the space industry, the former Crown Research scientist launched Rocket Lab in 2007 with the goal of removing the barriers to commercial space.
While satellites have become increasingly smaller and lighter - some no bigger than a lunchbox - Beck says rocket technology has remained large and costly.
Rocket Lab aims to use innovations in rocket technology and rapid development cycles to launch rockets 100 times a year, at less than NZ$6.7 million per launch - a 91% reduction in the current cost.
The rockets will take small satellites into orbit up to 500km above Earth, where they can be used for tasks such as weather mapping and monitoring climate change.
Rocket Lab's speed of innovation has been rapid since Beck's Innovator of the Year Award was announced.
In April, the company unveiled the Rutherford engine - named after Kiwi physicist Ernest Rutherford - which it says is both the world's first battery-powered rocket engine and the first new rocket propulsion system created in 50 years.
The engine's primary components are 3D-printed, which makes the Rutherford faster and cheaper to build than traditional gas turbine rocket engines.
Rutherford engines will be used to power Rocket Lab's Electron rocket. With a lightweight carbon fibre body, the rocket stands 16 metres tall - about a third of the size of most rockets.
In July, the company announced it had signed a deal with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the US to use its personnel, facilities and equipment for rocket launches and re-entries.
The Auckland-based company may use Nasa's launch facilities in addition to its New Zealand sites.
The Electron's first flight is planned for later this year. Beck says it will be a great moment for the company, and one the team has spent years preparing for.
"It has been good to tick off these milestones leading up to the launch in such a robust and positive way," he says.
Beck says he is encouraged that accolades such as the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards keep the spotlight on Kiwi innovation.
"I like the fact that innovation has a real stature in New Zealand, which isn't the case everywhere," he says.
He hopes many other high-achieving Kiwis will be nominated for the Innovator of the Year Award.
"The award makes a difference because it gives people something to aspire to. It reinforces the message that innovation is really important for New Zealand's future."
•The 2016 Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Awards give people the chance to nominate an individual or community organisation that makes them proud to be a Kiwi. Nominations close on 30 September 2015.
To nominate someone you know for the Innovator of the Year Award or any of the other award categories, visit http://nzawards.org.nz/nominate/