Welcome to Rocket Revolution: Carterton Space Week 2026.
For seven days we are celebrating rockets, astronomy, New Zealand’s space industry and the extraordinary night sky above Wairarapa with events for children, families, curious grown-ups, businesses, photographers and anyone who has ever looked upwards and wondered what is out there.
And this year, we really do mean rockets.
From water rockets to real model rockets
We begin on Sunday 4 October at Carrington Park with one of our favourite Space Week traditions: Water Rockets and Solar Telescopes.
Build them. Fill them. Pump them up.
Then stand back.
Later in the week things become considerably more rocket-y.
Simon Willoughby-Martin from It’s Not Rocket Science and the Christchurch Rocketeers is coming to Carterton to run our model rocket workshops.
Simon was involved with Rocket Lab’s early rockets, and now Space Week participants will get the chance to learn from him while building and launching rockets of their own.
There are beginner and intermediate sessions across the week, so this is a chance to go beyond watching rockets on a screen and discover some of the actual science and engineering that gets them off the ground.
Step inside the Mars Blueberry
From Monday to Thursday, our Mars Blueberry digital planetarium will be living at the Wairarapa Events Centre.
For just $5 per person, you can climb inside and leave Earth.
Our live Rocket Revolution shows will explore one very simple question:
How do we actually get into space?
Which leads to:
- Where does space begin?
- Why can’t a rocket simply fly straight up and stay there?
- Why does a spacecraft have to travel at nearly 30,000 kilometres per hour to remain in orbit?
- How did humans reach the Moon?
- Could we travel to Mars?
And how did a small country in the South Pacific become one of the world’s launch nations?
We will travel from Carterton to Earth orbit, the Moon and beyond, following the story of humanity learning how to leave our planet.
Fresh from Space, literally
On Monday evening we come back to Earth for Fresh From Space: New Zealand’s Space Sector Now.
We will be bringing home ideas fresh from the New Zealand Aerospace Summit and talking about what is happening in Aotearoa right now: rockets, satellites, space technology, opportunities and some of the big questions around where the next decade might take us.
And we have a special guest dropping in.
Mark Rocket is joining us by Zoom to say hello to Carterton.
Yes, Mark Rocket really is his name.
And yes, for Rocket Revolution, we could hardly have organised that better. Listen here to our interview with Mark, the first New Zealander in space or you can also hear it on Access Radio.
Take a Journey Through the Universe
Space Week isn’t only about getting away from Earth.
Sometimes the most extraordinary part is discovering just how much Universe there is once you do.
On Wednesday evening, Sam Leske and Hari Mogoșanu will present Journey Through the Universe, a live voyage beginning right here in Carterton.
Using astronomical data and immersive visualisation, we will travel through the Solar System, out among the stars of the Milky Way and onward into the deep Universe.
There is no pre-recorded movie and no fixed route.
It is a live journey through space, so bring questions.
We can go almost anywhere.
Meet the telescopes
On Friday afternoon, mysterious tubes, mounts, eyepieces, cameras, cables and blinking boxes are taking over the Wairarapa Events Centre.
The Phoenix Astronomical Society is hosting Meet the Telescopes, a free drop-in afternoon where everyone is welcome to come and see the equipment astronomers use to explore the sky.
Bring the kids.
Bring your questions.
And if you have a telescope lurking in a cupboard that you have never quite figured out, bring that too.
Phoenix Astro members will have telescopes and astrophotography equipment on display and will be there to talk about everything from looking at the Moon from the backyard to photographing nebulae and galaxies.
At 6pm the cameras come out for the Space Week Astrophotography Workshop, a hands-on introduction to photographing Wairarapa’s remarkable dark skies.
A movie about rockets, of course
We couldn’t have Rocket Revolution without October Sky.
The classic true story of a group of teenagers inspired by Sputnik to start building rockets comes to Carterton for our Space Week Movie Night.
It is a story about science, friendship, ridiculous experiments, perseverance and discovering that where you begin does not have to determine where you end up.
Which makes it rather perfect for Space Week.
The night sky is part of the festival too
One of the things that makes Carterton Space Week different is that when our talks finish and our rockets come back to Earth, the Universe is still right there above us.
Carterton sits within the Wairarapa International Dark Sky Reserve, one of New Zealand’s great natural assets.
The special Star Safari: Rocket Revolution Edition takes the Space Week mission out of town and underneath the real sky, where visitors can collect another stamp and explore the Universe through some of Wairarapa’s largest public telescopes.
And this year there is an international spotlight on that sky.
Lonely Planet has selected Wairarapa stargazing for Best in Travel 2026 and specifically recommends timing a visit for Carterton Space Week in October.
That sentence still feels rather wonderful to write.
Get your Spaceport Passport
Children visiting Space Week can collect their own Carterton Spaceport Passport and earn mission stamps as they explore.
Launch a rocket.
Visit the planetarium.
Meet the telescopes.
Discover New Zealand in space.
Explore the night sky.
Complete enough missions and there may even be a Carterton Space Week mission reward waiting at the end.
The passport is our way of connecting the individual events into one big adventure through the town.
Because Carterton Space Week isn’t meant to feel like a timetable.
It is supposed to feel like you’ve arrived somewhere that has temporarily gone a little bit space-crazy.
Carterton businesses are joining the mission
Space Week is also about what our dark skies can mean for Wairarapa.
At Dark Sky Business Connect at Urlar, local businesses, tourism operators, accommodation providers and community organisations will come together over local wine to talk about the opportunities created by the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve.
Dark skies are not only something to protect.
They can support science, education, tourism, hospitality and entirely new reasons for people to stay another night in our region.
Why Carterton Space Week?
World Space Week takes place globally every year from 4–10 October, celebrating science, technology and humanity’s relationship with space.
The 2026 international theme is Rocket Revolution, recognising the extraordinary transformation now taking place in our ability to reach orbit and beyond.
Here in Wairarapa, we take that enormous international idea and make it local.
We build rockets in the park.
We put a planetarium in the middle of Carterton.
We invite people involved in New Zealand’s space story to talk with us.
We bring telescopes into town.
We turn Mr Carter into an astronaut.
And when night falls, we walk outside and look up.
Because perhaps the most important thing about space is that it doesn’t belong somewhere else.
We are already part of it.
COME AND JOIN THE ROCKET REVOLUTION
Carterton Space Week 2026
4–10 October
Carterton, Wairarapa
Seven days of rockets, astronomy, planetarium adventures, talks, workshops and stargazing for all ages.
