New Zealand has now joined the handful of countries who have active launch programmes and can only go upwards from here, a professor said.
Professor of physics at the University of Auckland Richard Easther said the significance of Rocket Lab's successful launch to orbit last weekend couldn't be underestimated.
"On the one hand they've still got a road to travel but on the other hand it's a huge milestone. A huge number of companies have entered that arena and not been able to deliver a successful launch so they really are ahead of the pack at the moment."
The professor said it meant the country joined the league of world powers such as the United States, Russia, China and smaller militarised countries like North Korea.
"We're a small country who have done it purely as a commercial enterprise rather than something that has been justified by military expenditure where there's probably a much greater tolerance for failure."
Professor Easther said it was a sign of a changing New Zealand.
"New Zealand is very much an economy that's focused on primary production. For as long as any of us can remember people have been saying we need to diversify and be producing high-tech products.
"This is a kind of calling card for New Zealand's industry and manufacturing ability, even though it's a joint venture and there's a large American component to it."
Over the years the New Zealand Government had done well to respect Treaty obligations while fostering Rocket Lab's progress, he said.
"If you put something into space then you're responsible if it lands, comes to earth, in a way that causes damage.
"So we have to be able to see to it that we're meeting those obligations but on the other hand it seems like we're doing it in a way that facilitates activity rather than prevents it."
He said beyond the realm of technological progress was space's ability to tap into children's natural enthusiasm.
"I went into a Year 3 classroom in a primary school in Auckland a few years ago and about 10 of the kids there stayed through their break to keep asking questions.
"There's something about space that's different from many of the other things we do and the idea that it's happening in New Zealand rather than something that happens in other countries overseas is going to have a real impact on our understanding of what New Zealand as a country is able to do."
For Rocket Lab to keep to the forefront of modern technology it would need to continue dominating the currently-isolated satellite market, he said.
"I guess the key thing for Rocket Lab is going to be whether in the long term they can commercially out-compete the other operators that will presumably try and move into the same market niche that they've identified."