Rocketman: My Rocket-Propelled Life and High-Octane Creations

Since the 1960s, Ky Michaelson's rocket-powered vehicles have set 72 state, national, and international speed records. His penchant for the unknown and passion for speed have been with him since childhood, when he built his first rocket-powered motorcycle.

After earning his first world record--for a rocket-powered snowmobile--he decided to go after every acceleration record in the world. This is Ky's story, the life of a driven--or rocket-powered--man. Ky tells about how he began and where hes gone, about his work on hundreds of film and television programs, and about his service as program director of "SPACESHOT 2004"--the grand effort of the Civilian Space Exploration Team (CSXT) to build and launch the first amateur rocket into space. And he describes reaching the "impossible dream" as the first amateur to license, and successfully launch, the Go Fast Rocket into space, with an altitude of 72 miles--and a new speed record of 3,420 mph.

This is Ky Michaelson’s story, the life of a drivenaor rocket-poweredaman. Ky tells about how he began and where he’s gone, about the rocket-powered vehicles he’s built, and about the homespun innovation that led to the creation of each machine. In May 2004, Ky led the first team of civilians to successfully launch a rocket into space. Through the pages of Rocket Man, he shares this inspiring story of overcoming seemingly insurmountable challenges to achieve a life-long dream.
An entrancing tour of the rocketing devices Ky devised from scuba tanks and tractor seats, wheelchairs and flexible flyers, Rocket Man also brings to vibrant, immediate life the brilliant, determined, eccentric man whose will was enough to launch him into space, stardom, and history.