Beck grew up in Invercargill. His father is a former museum and art gallery director and gemologist. His mother is a teacher. His family loved machines. He developed an interest in powerful engines as a teenager, and he spent time working on an old Mini and turbocharging it. As a child he wanted to build rockets when he grew up. His high school careers counsellor requested a meeting with his parents because they were concerned that his dream job didn't fit any "pre-defined boxes" and was "absurdly unachievable".
Career
He describes the course of his career as "enabling me to learn more, or provide resources to ultimately build bigger and better rockets". Beck left home at 17 to become a toolmaking apprentice at Fisher & Paykel. While working there he used the company workshop to experiment with rockets. He never attended university. He later worked at Industrial Research. He worked on smart materials, composites and superconductors. While working there he met Stephen Tindall, who later invested in Rocket Lab.
Rocket Lab
Beck established Rocket Lab in 2006 and in November 2009 it became the first private company in the Southern Hemisphere to reach space, with its Ātea-1 sounding rocket. The company did not continue the sounding rocket launches, instead moving on to orbital launch business. The company developed the two-stage liquid-fueled Electron rocket, whose first flight was in May 2017. The maiden flight was unsuccessful. In January 2018 they reached orbit for the first time, deploying three CubeSats for customers. By mid-2019 they had successfully launched in total seven similar missions.
Awards
Beck has been awarded the Meritorious Medal from the Royal Aeronautical Society for service of an exceptional nature to New Zealand aviation. He was also awarded the Royal Society's Cooper Medal. In 2014 he won the Innovation in Design and Engineering Award at the NZ Innovators Awards, and in 2016 he was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year. Beck was named an adjunct professor of aerospace engineering by the University of Auckland in 2019, though he never attended university himself.
Personal life
Beck is married to an engineer, and has two children.
