posted 07-22-2001 03:28 PM
This artical appeared in my local newpaper yesterday and though it would be iteresting to pass on. I'll type it word for word.Bend, Oregon - Next summer, Brain Walker will strap himself into the 24-foot rocket he's building in his back yard, ignite 9,000 pounds of fuel and hurl himself toward the edge of space.
At least, that's the plan.
If he calculated correctly, Earthstar 1 will run out of fuel six minutes out, about 35 miles from the Earth's surface. The spent fuel tank will drop off and the control capsule, with Walker inside, will coast to a stop.
He'll float in space for a moment, then activate a thruster in the nose of the capsule and prepare for descent.
As he glides back toward Earth, a dozen Hooters girl will be waiting, ready to shower him with champagne. that part is in his dreams.
Walker, a bearded 44-year old who never finished college, gets a glean in his eye when talks about his idea of the perfect end to the space flight he gantasized about since watching the Apollo on TV when he was 8.
He isn't trying to break any records, Even if his homemade rocket hits its peak trajectory, it won't make it all the way into space, which most scientists define as beginning 65 miles above the Earth.
"My No. 1 goal is that I survive," he said.
Walker has always had a knack for inventing things, but many of his gadgets were failures, such as a twoperson recreational submarine that he built in Fiji.
Finally, his tinkering began to produce something profitable - toys. Royalites have been rolling in for gizmos that, not suprisingly, are space-related: lasers, a hand-held Pop it Rocket, a gyroscope in the guies of a glow-in-the dark alien spaceship.
But something was missing.
He set to work, putting his rocket dreams onto paper. When experts told him his plans wouldn't work, Walker took an eraser to the penciled blueprints. Fins on the outer skin of the rocket were remove, making it more aerodynamic. Booster were added tot he rocket's nose to stabilize it as it makes its ascent.
"I'm not supposed to admit that I can make mistakes," Walker said. "But I do."
David Engeman, 24-year old college student in Bend, tracked Walker down after reading about the rocket on the Internat. Walker decided Engeman's background with wood an metal composite work would come in handy and pays him to help out.
"Nothing is too outlandish," Engeman said of Walker's design. "Some of this technology has been around since the 60's and 70's."
The rocket is simple enough that some experts say it might work.
There's still plenty of work to be done.
Walker is assembling by hand plastic mold that will be used to make the rocket's capsule and fuel tank. He's building a distillery behind his warehouselike shop to refind enough hydrogen peroxide to fuel his flight.
He's also contructing a centrifuge, which will spin him 70mph to acclimate him to the force of six Gs.
Work will begin soon on a 30-foot-long launch trailer that Walker plans to tow into southeastern Oregon Alvord Desert, his planned blast-off site, next year.
More often than not, the media has portrayed Walker as lunatic with a death wish.
"I don't care if people think I'm nuts," he said. "If I hadn't lived this life, I'd think I was nuts, too."
Walker, who has spent at least $25,000 preparing to blast himself into space, attended a cosmonaut training course last year in Russia, where he experienced zero gravity in a program also attended by millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito.
Even if he can build a workable rocket, Walker will have to persuade the Federal Aviation Administration to give him flight clearance. Already, he's wrangled with the Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the Alvord Desert, over his take-off plans.
"They can't say you can't launc," he said. "No one owns the rights to the sky.
Walker has been dreaming about take-off for years. Spectators will be kept at a safe distance, he said. Water and Porta-potties will be hauled into the desert.
When he reaches his 30-mile-plus apogee, he'll be able to see hundreds of miles in every direction. He'll drift a little in the wind.
Once back in Earth's atmosphere, a parasail will unfold from the capsule and he will float back to the desert.
"I'm attempting to dream in a world where not many people dream any more," he said>
posted 07-22-2001 03:28 PM
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