# Onward and Upward! First amateur rocket blasts into space



## Jayaprakash Satyamurthy (May 19, 2004)

On the heels of the previous news item here, now this: 

An amateur rocket called GoFast has made history by becoming the first such rocket to reach 100 kilometres altitude - the official edge of space.

The seven-metre-tall rocket was launched from Nevada's Black Rock Desert on Monday carrying a ham radio avionics package which broadcasted position and altitude data during its ascent.

The Civilian Space Exploration Team (CSXT) built the rocket at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. CSXT claims it is the most powerful amateur rocket ever built.

Their success comes two years after their last attempt in 2002, which ended just three seconds after launch when the rocket's engine exploded. 

This time round the launch went like clockwork, says CSXT project leader Eric Knight. As it roared off its launch pad, team members, enthusiasts and US Federal Aviation Administration officials watched cheering it on.


Link: http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995005

Something tells me they need to update that observation 'like clockwork' - seems a bit retro for rocket science!


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## Brian G Turner (May 19, 2004)

Hoo-ray! Great stuff - power to the people!!

 and look at that cost - _tens of thousands of dollars_. Sounds good to me.


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