Rocket Lab founder wants to help colonise the moon

Space company Rocket Lab is preparing to carry out the 10th launch of its Electron rocket.

It's an unprecedented milestone, given the first launch was just two-and-a-half-years ago.

In just a decade, founder Peter Beck has gone from launching a small rocket out of a shed to having 500 staff under him regularly launching satellites that are advancing groundbreaking science.

Beck said the rockets generally range from the size of a piece of bread to the size of a refrigerator.

And now his goals are going lunar -- he wants to help colonise the moon.

"You can be involved in shaping the future for the human race, it's fantastic," he told Newshub. 

As the only private company in the world successfully going into space, from a private launch site, what will get Rocket Lab to the moon is closely guarded.

Beck told Newshub he couldn't show most of the rocket lab factory. 

"This is a stage 2 rocket, containing fuel tanks, and important electronics, but it's all trade secrets. 

"It's not like anyone can just turn up to rocket lab and we will just launch something," he told Newshub.

"We said from day one we want to launch a lot of things to orbit and we don't want to go down in history as a company that put the most amount of junk into orbit."

Next Monday's launch will take Beck one small step closer.