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Kiwi-built amateur rocket reaches space: 'Pretty amazing' (www.1news.co.nz)
submitted 2 weeks ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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A Kiwi-built amateur rocket is believed to have set a record as not just the country's first but one of the fastest launched into space — all with home brewed beer and gin onboard.

Meraki II, a 4-metre long rocket, launched near Arthur's Pass on April 19, reaching a peak altitude of 121.6km.

The two-stage rocket travelled at mind-boggling speeds of up to Mach 5.6, or around 1.9 kilometres a second — fast enough to cover the distance between Cape Reinga and Bluff in just over 12 minutes.

"It's the first successful amateur non-US spaceshot, and the new velocity record-holder"

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[-] [email protected] 4 points 2 weeks ago

I get that this is an NZ article, but now I need to download a Kiwi-to-English translator:

"Fast enough to cover the distance between Cape Reinga and Bluff in just over 12 Wallaby-hoots. The rocket was powered by using a typical crateful of Karambalite mix, taken straight from a used spagolant that had bashtunes just lying around."

[-] [email protected] 2 points 2 weeks ago

And to think if he'd fired it sideways, he'd not even be 1/20th of the way to hitting Australia. Not that I condone shooting valuable alcohol at them.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

From the video you can tell that thing was rocketing along right from the start. It was really flying!

this post was submitted on 16 May 2025
30 points (100.0% liked)

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