Peter Beck

About Peter Beck

Peter Beck is the founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, which develops and launches rockets, satellites and other spacecraft for government and commercial customers.

The New Zealand native founded Rocket Lab in 2006, moved its headquarters to California in 2013 and took it public via a SPAC merger that valued the company at $4.1 billion in 2021.

Beck owns nearly 10% of Rocket Lab, which generated $600 million of revenue in 2025 and is the third most frequent orbital launcher globally behind SpaceX and the Chinese government.

Rocket Lab, which is known for its smaller launch vehicles, plans to debut a larger rocket called Neutron in 2026, enabling the company to compete more directly with the giants of its industry.

A self-taught engineer, Beck skipped college in 1993 and built rockets in his spare time, while working for a decade at an appliance manufacturer and government research institute in New Zealand.