What would you launch into space?

NewsTalk ZB article

16/11/2009 17:20:02

Wedding rings are among the things people want to send into space.

New Zealand firm Rocket Lab is launching a rocket into space from Great Mercury Island, off the Coromandel Peninsula on November 30.

CEO Peter Beck says the six metre tall rocket will be carrying a two kilogram payload. There is just a hundred grams of space left, which is being auctioned on Trade Me and eBay for anyone who wants to send personal items into space.

Mr Beck says some couples are already trying to book places for their wedding rings.

"If the mission is successful, cause we do recover the payload, whatever goes to space is obviously very historic and so potentially very valuable."

Mr Beck says they're launching from Great Mercury Island as it is near a military zone.

The key aim of the launch is to flight qualify the rocket, to test the systems ahead of flying commercial payloads into space.

Mr Beck says there is demand from from the scientific community to send up equipment to gather climate change data.

"Because there's a tremendous amount of data collected in the Northern Hemisphere and that's great for all your climate change models. But there's a great big gap in the data for the Southern Hemisphere because there's been no activity down here."

So- what would you launch into space????? At the time of writing there is one bid on TradeMe for $3000. How much would you pay and what would you send? Write your answer in the comments....