Flipping through my new copy of CGW.

[PGerringer]

I'm a subscriber to Computer Gaming World. What can I say? I'm a big kid at heart. Anyway, I ran across this very interesting article. Reprinted from CGW January 2004 - go out and buy a copy.

The Rocket Man
John Carmack builds a bigass boomstick.

The programming genius behind Doom and Quake has his sights on a new target - 62.5 miles high. Id Software's John Carmack is leading a team known as Armadillo Aerospace that is competing for the $10 million X Prize. The payoff goes to the first civilian group that can launch three people 100 kilometers from Earth, return them safely, and do it again in two weeks.
It's a mighty tall order, but Carmack happens to be a mighty smart guy. And he's been a rocket nut for a long time.
"I can trace back my interest in space to the end of the development of Quake," he says. "I borrowed a bunch of Robert Heinlein books. A year later, I started reading everything I could about space travel. Now I'm building what amounts to the world's biggest roller coaster. It's exciting, challenging, and things are going well. We've got the full sized X Prize vehicle built. We're just waiting to decide which engine to use. The only problems now: industrial manufacturers worrying about liabilities. When they hear we're building a rocket ship, they think, "What if it goes out of control and hits a school bus full of nuns?"

There is a picture of an interesting looking rocket. If you want to see the pic, then pick up a copy of the mag. But what an interesting place to find a rocketry article.

 

[seo]

I saw a spot on TV about this. Don't remember what show. I think John said he has spent about a million so far.

 

[Justy]

You can build a ship that'll touch LEO for a million dollars? Can I have a million dollars to build a spaceship? Huh? Can I?

 

[mkmilion]

I think he was on Conan O' Brian.

 

[seo]

Here is link about the Armadillo team:

armadillo

 

[seo]

Armadillo Aerospace website

 

[KermieD]

Is this the same guy who was the 1st in history to get a preemptive Darwin Award for the effort or a different guy? (same propulsion system I know for sure).