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Home-Built Rocket Model Lands Vertically Using Thrust Vectoring; Space Is the Next Target

Remember the days when people only did what they learned in school? Aviators flew, teachers taught, blacksmiths slammed iron, and audio engineers made music. Yeah, me neither, that was a long time ago, and since the internet dictatorship took over our existence, things have changed a bit.
Hats off for Joe Barnard after his Rocket Model's first complete flight 11 photos
Photo: BPS.space/YouTube
Vertical landing legsHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelJoe Barnard Celebrates First Successful FlightHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket modelHome-made Thrust Vector Control rocket model
Audio engineers are rocket scientists now. Well, maybe not all people who make singers sound good dream about reaching for the stars – the real stars! – but there is a confident Joe Barnard on this planet who did it.

Past tense, that's right. At the beginning of August 2022, he posted a video about his successful attempt to launch a model rocket and safely land it, SpaceX-style. It took him about seven years, but he got it. The bottom video is proof of his achievement and a good walkthrough for such an enterprise.

Now, the rockstar-level triumph of the non-at-all-average Joe is that he did it all alone and on his own. No team of aerospace engineers to back him up, no formal education in aerospace engineering, no supercomputers to simulate/emulate/calculate/replicate vertical takeoff and vertical landing.

In all fairness, his home-built rockets flew in the air for several seconds and below one hundred feet. Nonetheless, it is a flight and a complete one at that! So, Joe will now carry on to conduct an actual space flight – meaning he aims to launch a rocket beyond 62 miles above earth (100 kilometers).

The out-of-this-world achievement is all the more impressive as he home-schooled himself into programming, avionics, rocket engine science, everything. He said, "I picked up a few textbooks, found a few good YouTube tutorials for coding and mechanical design, and got to work experimenting!" (That confidence level alone is enough to launch a full-sized rocket!).

Even more astonishing is that he doesn't ride a tidal wave of dollar bills to build his dreams. Mr. Joe Barnard replicated the incredible space-age technological breakthrough using his pocket money – and the Patreon funding supporting his work.

Check his website for details about him, his work, and detailed insight on how to reach for the stars (yes, he is willing to share his knowledge). And touch them, one day, as I do not doubt that Joe Barnard will get it done. Apparently, for him, it's no rocket science, and his audio background helps with a sound apprehension of all (complicated) things flying.

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About the author: Razvan Calin
Razvan Calin profile photo

After nearly two decades in news television, Răzvan turned to a different medium. He’s been a field journalist, a TV producer, and a seafarer but found that he feels right at home among petrolheads.
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