The Economic Times

Once rejected by NASA and Boeing, Peter Beck built Rocket Lab into a SpaceX and Blue Origin rival with 2,500 employees across the US, Canada and New Zealand

Rocket Lab founder Sir Peter Beck is now taking on Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. Peter Beck was once rejected by NASA and Boeing as he did not have a formal engineering degree. In 2025, his company generated revenue of $600 million and employed between 2,000 and 2,500 people across the United States, Canada and New Zealand.