“Students’ ‘homemade’ rocket soars faster and farther into space than any other amateur spacecraft — smashing 20-year records”
Harry Baker, Live Science (November 21, 2024)“A group of U.S. students has smashed a series of world records after launching a ‘homemade’ rocket farther and faster into space than any other amateur rocket. The student-made missile soared 90,000 feet (27,400 meters) beyond the previous record-holder — a Chinese rocket launched more than 20 years ago.
“The record-breaking rocket, named Aftershock II, was designed and built by students at the University of Southern California’s (USC) Rocket Propulsion Lab (RPL) — a group run entirely by undergraduate students….
“…The rocket’s apogee was around 470,000 feet (143,300 m) above Earth’s surface, which is ‘further into space than any non-governmental and non-commercial group has ever flown before,’ USC representatives wrote in a statement. The previous record of 380,000 feet (115,800 m) was set in 2004 by the GoFast rocket made by China’s Civilian Space Exploration Team….”
I could take many routes, talking about what that bunch of crazy college kids did yesterday (October 20, 2024) in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada.
Taking my cue from Sixties sensibilities that I still retain — to an extent — I could ponder the perils which their launch posed to the fragile desert biome. Or I could complain that they didn’t focus on some sorta-now, sorta-wow, social protest.
Instead, I’ll say that I thoroughly enjoyed watching 79 seconds of youngsters successfully launching a vehicle past the Kármán line. I hope that at least some of them get involved in what promises to be a very interesting era of space exploration.
I like seeing humanity — including folks from my country — doing what we’ve been doing for uncounted ages: seeing what’s over the next hill.
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