Danish one-man rocket testing next week

This is very odd.

Inside the spacecraft.

Next week, a non-profit called Copenhagen Suborbitals will be testing a vehicle to launch a person into space. This flight will have a humanoid dummy aboard, not a person. But it would be an odd and impressive accomplishment nonetheless.

The company itself consists of volunteers. Funding is by sponsors. (They also sell patches and stuff from their online store.)

According to their website, they’ve got an interesting spacecraft design:

The micro spacecraft (MSC) Tycho Brahe-1 is the payload of the HEAT booster. It is a pressurized volume providing support for one upright standing/half-sitting person, with a full view through a polymer plexiglas-dome to experience the entire ballistic ride.

They’ve got an impressive looking rocket. It’s called “HEAT-1x” and uses LOX oxidizer and paraffin fuel. They’ve done quite a bit of testing on their boosters.

The mission will be launched from a platform in the Baltic Sea and will parachute to a traditional splashdown. I’m not sure that I’d personally enjoy a “ballistic ride”, but to each his own…

I wish the principles of the company, Kristian von Bengtson and Peter Madsen, and their whole team of volunteers the best of luck!

If all goes well, the flight will work like this.