posted October 08, 2009 03:31 PM               

New Zealand's start-up aerospace company Rocket Lab says it is set for its first high-altitude rocket launch next month after completing its final ground-based test today.

"We're ready to go," said the company's founder and technical director, Peter Beck. The pioneer in New Zealand's embryonic space industry will launch its first small unmanned rocket, Atea-1 rocket, at the end of November, from Great Mercury Island.

The island, 18km east of the Coromandel Peninsula, is owned by Sir Michael Fay and David Richwhite.

The lab said Atea-1 will be the first privately-built rocket launched from the Southern Hemisphere into space.