| Ky Michaelson built and launched the first amateur rocket to space. Since childhood, Ky had a penchant for the unknown. It is difficult to say whether his inquisitive nature is inborn or acquired. His family history reveals an impressive list of innovative accomplishments. A few of them include the first motorcycle transmission and clutch, the rotary lawnmower blade, the flip-top aspirin box, the sonic garage door opener, the oxygen mask used in commercial airplanes, and the Boroscope. The Boroscope, invented by Ky's father, was an instrument that looks inside of aircraft wings much like an X-Ray. This innovation alone has saved millions of dollars for the government and the aircraft industry. Ky's accomplishments are equally impressive as those of his family. When Ky was a young boy, his father gave him a book that was printed back in the 1920's. While reading the book, Ky was intrigued by an article that showed a man sitting on top of a rocket on a chair wearing a leather helmet. There was a photo below it showing the man laying on the ground smoldering and the caption read, “and he lived to tell about it.” From that day on, Ky has been fascinated with the fact that you could actually be launched into space with a rocket. At the early age of 12, Ky was given a Gilbert chemistry set for Christmas. That was his start in learning to experiment with various chemicals. It wasn't long after that Ky learned how to make black powder, which led to him creating his very first rocket motor. When Ky was 15 years old, he raced his first car: a 1934 Ford 3 window coup. From then on, Ky had a need for speed. Ky built a twin engine motorcycle that set numerous records around the country, but he was not satisfied with the speed. In 1960, Ky built his first rocket-powered vehicle: a rocket-powered motorcycle. In 1969, Ky built a rocket-power snowmobile that made it into the Guinness World Book of Records. After accomplishing his first world record he decided to go after every acceleration record in the world. In 12 years, Ky's rocket-powered vehicles set 72 state, national, and international speed records. One day he received a call from a stuntman in California by the name of Dar Robinson, Hollywood's premier stuntman. Dar asked Ky to come out to California and work with him to develop innovative stunts and stunt equipment that had never been seen before. Ky and Dar worked on 17 shows for “That's Incredible.” From there they ended up working on a number of Burt Reynolds's movies and eventually got their own primetime television show, "The World's Most Spectacular Stuntmen." Overall, Ky has worked on over 200 films, television programs, and commercials, as well as the majority of stunt specials that have been seen on TV over the past 30 years. Literally hundreds of feature articles have been written about Ky and his adventures. Through the years, Ky has created and run many successful businesses. Today, Ky is retired from the world of business, so he can concentrate full time on rocketry. He is the Program Director of “SPACESHOT 2003” -- the grand effort of the Civilian Space eXploration Team (CSXT) to build and launch the first amateur rocket into space. This was successful on May 18, 2004. He also is a major partner of Orbital Expressways, Inc., a start-up commercial rocketry endeavor with the lofty goal of low-cost space access for everyone. You can read more about Ky at his website, http://www.the-rocketman.com. |
