Rocket Lab's Space Ambassador visits are allocated to registered schools. Registration is free and takes minutes at rocketlabusa.com/careers/education. Schools that have not registered cannot access the programme when visits open. Register the school, inform the teachers who would benefit, and add it to your STEM partnership list. The programme is also a useful ongoing connection — once registered, schools receive updates on launches, resources, and scholarship openings.
Rocket launches are delayed — often repeatedly — by weather, technical issues, and safety constraints. A class that drives to Blucks Pit and watches a scrub has not had a failed excursion: they have had an authentic engineering experience. The decision to scrub a launch rather than risk a failure is itself a nature of science lesson. Brief students before departure: the decision to not launch is engineering in action, not disappointment.
Rocket Lab's launch webcast — available approximately 15–20 minutes before each attempt — provides the best views of the Electron rocket and expert commentary on the launch process. Whether students are watching from Blucks Pit or a classroom anywhere in New Zealand, the webcast anchors the experience in the real-time decisions of the launch team. It is never just a screen experience when a real rocket is climbing above Māhia at the same moment.
Rocket Lab's Space Ambassador visits work because the engineers who show up went to New Zealand schools, studied at New Zealand universities, and chose to stay. The 2025 Rocket Lab Scholarship recipient, Tony Cornwall from Ruakituri, whakapapas to Rongomaiwahine, Ngāti Kahungunu ki te Wairoa, and Ngāti Porou. He is studying at the University of Canterbury. The pathway from a school in Hawke's Bay to a career building rockets is not theoretical — it is documented in specific people's lives.
| Level | Years 1–6 | Years 7–10 | Years 11–13 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | I can describe one thing I encountered — a rocket launch, a Space Ambassador, or a satellite's purpose — that I could not have understood without the real encounter. | I can describe what direct encounter with a working Rocket Lab engineer, a live launch, or the Science Learning Hub's Aotearoa in Space resources added to my understanding that AI descriptions or classroom resources could not replicate. | I can analyse why encounter with a working aerospace engineer, a live orbital launch, or the specific geography and cultural context of the Māhia Peninsula produces qualitatively different understanding from AI-mediated access to space science and engineering. |
| 2 | I can explain one thing a rocket does or one job someone does at Rocket Lab, and say how I know it from the real encounter rather than from a book or screen. | I can explain the engineering principles behind at least one aspect of the Electron rocket — propulsion, materials, orbit insertion, or launch decision-making — drawing on what I encountered through the Space Ambassador visit, launch viewing, or Science Learning Hub resources. | I can situate Rocket Lab's Māhia operation within the broader New Zealand space industry — identifying the legal, commercial, cultural, and engineering decisions that make a private orbital launch site in Hawke's Bay both possible and significant. |
| 3 | I can say one thing AI told me about rockets or space and whether it matched what the Space Ambassador said or what I saw during a launch. | I can identify where AI's account of orbital mechanics, rocket engineering, or the commercial space industry matched what I encountered through Rocket Lab's education programmes — and where the encounter with a working engineer or a real launch added evidence AI could not provide. | I can critically evaluate AI's account of rocket propulsion physics, orbital sustainability, or the legal framework for NZ's space industry against what I encountered through Rocket Lab's education programmes and the Science Learning Hub — identifying where real-world engineering and policy complicates or extends AI's general account. |
| 4 | I can say why talking to a real rocket engineer or watching a real launch gave me something I couldn't have got from a screen. | I can explain what direct encounter with a working aerospace engineer adds to understanding of engineering design, career pathways, and the NZ space industry that no textbook, documentary, or AI description provides. | I can articulate the difference between knowing about the NZ space industry, studying it through AI and secondary sources, and encountering it through a Space Ambassador who went to a New Zealand school and now builds orbital rockets — and explain what each mode of encounter produces that the others cannot. |
| 5 | I can say one thing I want to find out or try because of what I learned from Rocket Lab's education programme. | I can identify a STEM career pathway, engineering challenge, or research question that my encounter with NZ's space industry makes me want to pursue — and propose a concrete next step, including what I would study and who I would contact. | I can develop a substantive response to the question my encounter with NZ's space industry raises — whether that is a technical investigation, a policy question, or a career pathway inquiry — and identify what additional knowledge, mentorship, or experience I would need to pursue it seriously, including Rocket Lab's scholarship, apprenticeship, and internship programmes. |