Over coffee at Wild Oats Café, Josie Askin sat down with Sam and Hari from Milky-Way.Kiwi owners of Star Safari for the October GoCarterton Business Spotlight — a conversation about dark skies, space science, education, Carterton Space Week and the wonder of looking up.
Sam and Hari are both deeply involved in Carterton’s business and community life, including GoCarterton, where Sam serves as chair. But their work reaches far beyond local business. Through Milky-Way.Kiwi, Star Safari and Spaceward Bound New Zealand, they bring astronomy, astrobiology and space science education to visitors, schools and communities across Aotearoa.
The reason they came to Carterton is simple.
The sky.
Carterton sits within the Wairarapa Dark Sky Reserve, an internationally recognised dark sky area with night skies clear enough to connect people directly with the stars. For Sam and Hari, that makes the district not only a beautiful place to live, but an extraordinary place to share the universe.
“The main reason we’re here is the night sky. What we have here is really special.”
Hari and Sam
Star Safari is based on Ponatahi Road, where visitors can experience the night sky through telescopes, storytelling and guided observation. The observatory was created not just as a private place to look at the stars, but as a public space where people of all ages can learn, wonder and reconnect with the sky above them.
Milky-Way.Kiwi also includes Spaceward Bound New Zealand, which takes space science education into schools around the country. Through portable planetarium sessions, Mars rover activities and astrobiology programmes, Sam and Hari aim to inspire young people to explore science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
Their goal is to connect people with our universe — and to help them understand our place within it.
For Hari, that connection began in childhood. Growing up in Romania, her grandfather would take her on walks and point out the Moon and stars. Later, a picture of the life cycle of a star in a dictionary captured her imagination.
“I still think stars are absolutely phenomenal.”
That early wonder eventually became a lifelong passion for astronomy, astrobiology and science communication.
Sam’s interest was shaped by growing up in Blenheim, where a small white observatory dome on the ridge above town became part of the landscape of his childhood. Later, seeing Halley’s Comet through broken binoculars helped him understand the vast timescales of space.
For both Sam and Hari, astronomy is not abstract. It is a way to ask big questions.
How do stars work?
How do we know what the universe is made of?
What is life?
Where else might life exist?
And what is the future of life on Earth?
That last question is central to astrobiology, a field Hari is especially passionate about.
“Astrobiology asks: what is life, where else can we find it, and what is the future of life?”
For Hari, learning about the universe is also a way of understanding responsibility. When people realise how rare and precious life is, it changes the way they think about the planet they live on.
“Every single one of us is significant. We are all here to contribute to the future of humankind by the decisions we take.”
Hari Mogoșanu
That sense of shared responsibility runs through the work of Milky-Way.Kiwi. Space becomes a way to bring people together, spark curiosity and encourage care for the future.
At Star Safari, the experience is also deeply personal. Visitors may come to learn about planets, nebulae, stars and galaxies, but often what they remember most is the feeling of standing under a dark sky and taking it all in.
“You don’t have to know how it works. You can just look at it and soak it up.”
That simple act of looking up is part of what makes Carterton’s night sky so powerful. Away from heavy city light pollution, the stars become visible again — and with them comes a sense of perspective.
“Space is the one thing that can unify humankind.”
The conversation also explored Carterton Space Week, a local celebration connected to World Space Week and shaped by the idea that Carterton can do something genuinely different.
Space Week brings together schools, businesses, scientists, community groups and visitors through events such as water rocket launches, astronomy talks, film screenings, astrophotography, stargazing and careers sessions.
For Sam, it is also about place-making.
Carterton has Daffodil Day. Featherston has Booktown. Martinborough has wine and food. Greytown has its own distinct visitor identity. Space Week gives Carterton another way to stand out — through knowledge tourism, science, curiosity and dark sky experiences.
“What if our town had a Space Week?”
Sam Leske
Over the past three years, Carterton Space Week has grown with support from GoCarterton, Carterton District Council, Trust House, local businesses and community members. From dressing Mr Carter as an astronaut to hosting film nights and career events, the week has become a celebration of imagination, learning and collaboration.
One of the highlights has been the careers day, bringing together organisations such as the New Zealand Space Agency, universities, the Robinson Research Institute and others to show young people that space careers are wider and more varied than many realise.
For Sam and Hari, this matters because space is not only about astronauts. It is about engineers, scientists, communicators, educators, technologists, pilots, researchers and problem-solvers.
It is about helping young people see possibility.
That same spirit runs through Star Safari and Spaceward Bound: curiosity, education and community coming together under one sky.
As the conversation wrapped up, one thing was clear. Sam and Hari’s work is not only about astronomy. It is about connection — to science, to place, to each other and to the future.
In Carterton, looking up is becoming part of the town’s identity.
And through Star Safari, Milky-Way.Kiwi and Carterton Space Week, Sam and Hari are helping more people discover that the night sky is not far away at all. It is right above us, waiting to be noticed.
This conversation was originally recorded for the GoCarterton Business Spotlight series on Arrow FM, celebrating local businesses, stories and community connections across Carterton District.
