A red projectile ascending at more than 400km/hr up into the dark sapphire Bay of Plenty morning sky – welcome to Tauranga Rocketry.

Mike Griffiths is an amateur rocketeer and founder of the newly-established club – Waihi/Waikino Rocketry, which is also known as Tauranga Rocketry.

But why Waihi/Waikino?

Mike says although 40 members of the club are from Tauranga, at the moment he has to launch his rockets elsewhere.

'At the moment all the launches are from Waikino because Tauranga is a restricted air space. I looking for a place closer to Tauranga, like a farm or somewhere that I could more launches from,” says Mike.

There's a lot of people that want to be at the launches but sadly not everyone can.

'A lot of people want to come to the launches but we can't let everyone – it's quite a big health and safety risk when you have objects flying through the air at more than 400km/hr.”

Go faster

But that speed just isn't fast enough for Mike. 'The most powerful engine in the category that I'm in is an F-sized engine and you can design them to go close to 1000km/hr.”

Mike says rocket engines start at A-size to F and are low to mid-power engines; anything past size F is considered high power – and he wants to go faster.

'So I've just joined the NZRA, which is the New Zealand Rocket Association, to do high powered. They have a launch site in the Waikato near Huntly.

'These guys launch vehicles up to 30,000ft-plus.”

Mike was mentored by a heavyweight in the rocket game. 'The guy who got me into it was Simon Willoughby-Martin, who works for Rocket Lab. During the first lockdown in 2020 I wanted to get into rocketry because I've always been interested in anything space-related.”

Mike says there were no model kits in the country at the time – due to Covid-19 they had sold out. 'So I contacted Simon, who ran a rocket club in Christchurch, and he gave me all the information.

'He told me where to go, what tutorials to watch, and how to build them. So I just built them myself.”

A childhood love

Mike builds almost all the parts for the rockets himself. 'The only things that were available to buy were the engines, other than that I built it all myself.”

Mike's love for building rockets grew out of a love for space in general.

'My Mum would get books about space, astronomy, and stars out of the library for me as a kid.

'We'd lie on the roof of the house and she'd point them all out to us. That sparked my interest as a child – anything to do with space and I was interested.”

Mike is also grateful to an uncle who invested in his love for space. 'I had an uncle who was head boy at Waihi College and he gave me a book about space that he'd won as a prize – I still have it.”

Although there are restrictions on the numbers that can attend, Mike is keen to hear from anyone who either wants to get into rocketry or would like to go along and watch.

'I am looking to run workshops on how to build rockets and I'm currently looking for a launch site in Tauranga – preferably a farm close by.”

'Find me on the ‘Tauranga Rocketry' Facebook page and contact me directly through there.”

The sky literally is the limit for Tauranga's Rocket Man.