Is New Zealand the world's best rocket-launching site?

To infinite profits and beyond THE Mahia peninsula, on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island, has been a holidaymakers' haven for decades. It offers sandy beaches, hot springs and scenic trails. And, for those of a technological mindset, it also offers the world's first private orbital-rocket-launching base. Launch Complex 1, as this base is known, sits at the tip of the peninsula and thus on the edge of the South Pacific ocean. Beyond it, the waters stretch uninterrupted by land for thou...