On Sept. 30, 2011 at 11:08am, Derek Deville's Qu8k (pronounced "Quake") launched from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada to an altitude of 121,000 feet before returning safely to Earth.
By John Roach
A homemade rocket that blasted off from Nevada's Black Rock Desert captured images of the inky blackness of space from 121,000 feet above Earth, putting an approximately $10,000 prize within its reach.
All that's missing is a GPS log of the flight with a reading above 100,000 feet, one of the requisites to claim the prize offered by John Carmack, who created the popular video games Doom and Quake, and founded Armadillo Aerospace.?
Derek Deville, an amateur rocket builder, launched his homemade rocket Qu8k (pronounced quake) on Sept. 30. It reached its apogee of 121,000 feet at 92 seconds after launch, then deployed a parachute and floated back down to Earth where it was recovered just three miles from the launch site.
Cameras onboard the rocket captured the views, including the curvature of the Earth and the parachute cord slowly going taut.
While the lack of a GPS reading above 100,00 feet will keep the prize ? $5,000 from Carmack and another $5,000 to $5,500 from additional benefactors ? unclaimed for now, it appears it won't last for much longer.?
Deville had a GPS on board Qu8k, just didn't get the reading he needed. Several other teams are vying for the prize, which is open until the first person or group reaches the goal.
A highlight reel of the Qu8k launch is at the top of this post. You can watch the full length version here.
[Via Popular Science]
More on amateur rockets and Armadillo Aerospace:
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com.
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