Peter Datlen. Photo supplied.Ashburton’s own rocket-man Peter Datlen came back to his original launch pad yesterday to share his story about how he came to work for leading company Rocket Lab and his role in putting those rockets together.

Datlen was the first speaker of three to talk to the U3A group on their mini-series on space at St David’s Church Hall in Allenton, just around the corner from where he grew up.

He spoke about the path that led him to working in the space industry, with developing an interesting for cars and mechanics from his father who owned the petrol station on the corner of Harrison Street and Allens Road.

Following his father’s death in an aeroplane accident in 2006, Datlen decided a career in the air force as a aeronautical technician was what he wanted to do when he finished his time at Ashburton College.

“I had had no interest in it previously, but I figured I wasn’t able to fix the plane that dad crashed in, but I could fix all the others,” he said.

In 2008 he joined the air force, where he remained for several years before leaving after the report into the plane crash that killed his father found that it was not a mechanical fault that caused the plane to crash.

“That was the only reason I had gone into the air force and I found my drive was gone,” he said.

After that he trained to become a commercial pilot, before shifting careers again, working on newly imported Ford Mustangs to New Zealand and even trying his hand at swinging the hammer as a builder.

It was not until an old friend from the air force called him to tell him he had this job at a new company called RocketLab building rockets and asked if he wanted a job did he find a permanent passion.

“He asked ‘do I want to come build rockets’ and I asked ‘are you mental?’” he said.

“They brought me up to Auckland and I got to walk around the workshop, it wasn’t huge but it was unbelievable.”

Datlen was part of the small team that constructed the first rocket launched by RocketLab in 2017, and is now the lead launch technician for the company which now has more than 550 staff and has plans to work with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build a launch-pad in the United States.

Datlen also spoke to the group about Rocket Lab’s other plans for the future, including getting to the stage where they are launching one rocket every week and not leaving any space junk behind.

Rocket Lab is now an American registered and owned company, but is still run by New Zealanders and is based out of their Auckland factory and control room, launching their rockets from Mahia Peninsula, one-hour’s drive from Gisborne.

The U3A group will have two more speakers on space over the coming weeks, with British astronomer Ian Griffin coming to speak on September 3 and local astronomer Alister Perkins will deliver a Layman’s Guide to the Universe on September 4.

Both events will be held at the St David’s Church Hall from 10am and are open to casual visits from members of the public with an entry fee of $10.

By Jaime Pitt-MacKay © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 August 2019