

Non-Profit to Launch Human Into Space Using €50,000 Spaceship - NathanKP
http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/

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mixmax
These guys are friends of mine. Before the rocket they built the worlds
largest homemade submarine.

Homepage:<http://www.uc3nautilus.dk/>

Wikipedia:<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC3_Nautilus>

Images:
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/hobonerd/sets/72157604823470166...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hobonerd/sets/72157604823470166/)

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jacquesm
It's hard to decide which is the more impressive achievement. These guys are
amazing.

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NathanKP
The first test flight, with a crash dummy instead of a human, goes up in eight
days, off a floating platform that will be towed into place using a submarine
built as the group's previous project.

The members of the group met each other on Something Awful.

There is more info on the group's Wikipedia Page:

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copenhagen_suborbitals>

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spazz
The thought of going into space on something built in a shed has a definite
appeal..

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NathanKP
It is like the old sci-fi stories from the 1950's, when writers expected that
in 2000 space travel would be as common as airplane flight. I think that more
private, low budget efforts such as this one could drive expanded space travel
development.

So far only huge commercial companies with billions of dollars have attempted
such as thing, but that could change with projects such as this one. On the
website it says that they plan to release as much of their designs as are
allowed under export rules. It would be nice to see more home-brew projects.
The danger of course, is that if this space launch fails and somebody dies it
could be a Hindenburg for private, low budget space rockets.

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jacquesm
Lots of interesting detail on this page:

<http://www.copenhagensuborbitals.com/boosters.php>

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66-75-63-6b
I'd like to note the freakin' awesome submarine that is also in the picture.
Judging from other comments, I guess that's the homemade submarine these guys
made!

Makes me feel ashamed- I have a hard time building a wooden table in my
garage. :(

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ck2
That homemade submarine leaks (there's a youtube video and the guy says "don't
worry about it")

I don't think that kind of error will be so forgiving in space?

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gojomo
Outbound: €50 000

Return: €10 000 000

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wtallis
Given that it's suborbital velocities they're aiming for, the return trip is
free. (And making it safe is pretty cheap, because there's not much energy to
dissipate. The horizontal motion at reentry will be small, as opposed to
several times the speed of sound for the space shuttle.)

