Peter Beck

Business career

While contacting potential investors, Beck met New Zealand internet entrepreneur Mark Rocket, later becoming a key seed investor to Rocket Lab. The rocket's first successful launch happened in January 2018, deploying two CubeSats and the Humanity Star. In May 2022, the company attempted to recover an Electron booster with partial success. As of August 2025, the company has successfully launched in total 66 similar missions out of 70 attempts, with Electron's latest launch failure being its 41st flight in September 2023.

In June 2026, Beck was ranked number 3 on the NBR Rich List with an estimated net worth of $11 billion .

Honours and awards

In 2015, Beck received the New Zealander of the Year Award in the Innovator of the Year category. In 2019, he was appointed as an adjunct professor for the University of Auckland. Both Rocket Lab and Beck were awarded the Pickering Medal by the Royal Society Te Apārangi in 2020.

In 2023, Rocket Lab and Peter Beck were featured in Ashlee Vance's book, "When the Heavens went on Sale". In 2024, a documentary called "Wild Wild Space" was released by HBO, portraying the rivalry between two companies, Astra and Rocket Lab, and their respective CEOs, Chris Kemp and Peter Beck.

In the 2024 King's Birthday Honours, Beck was appointed a Knight Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the aerospace industry, business and education.