Peter Beck, a Rival to Musk in Space

In high school a guidance counselor told Beck that a career building rockets was “absurdly unachievable.” And it did take the New Zealander a while to realize his teenage dream. For more than a decade he worked on designs for spacecraft only when he wasn’t busy with his job engineering supercomputers, wind turbines, and other products—a gig he got despite not having a formal university education.

Now blasting payloads into space is all in a day’s work. Beck founded Rocket Lab in 2006, and the company has become a preferred option for delivering small satellites to orbit. Its Electron vehicle is designed to be cheap and reliable, incorporating innovations such as 3D-printed engines. So far it’s been successfully launched 21 times, the second-highest number for any private space vehicle after SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with 125. The Neutron, a larger rocket now in development, will take bigger payloads, including for NASA, which has contracted Rocket Lab to, among other things, carry a Mars probe scheduled to launch in 2024. That more powerful rocket will put Beck in direct competition with Elon Musk’s company, at least for some missions. But there’s a key difference: Unlike with SpaceX, which remains privately held, ordinary investors can now bet on Beck’s vision. Since Rocket Lab’s initial public offering, the stock is up 56%.