November 10, 2012

Teenager from Helmond buys ticket to space

Filed under: General by Branko Collin @ 10:36 am

Last Sunday Rowin Hellings (18) from Helmond near Eindhoven bought himself a ride on a suborbital space flight.

The flights were being sold as part of a sales promotion by German consumer electronics chain Media Markt. In 2014 Hellings will be flying aboard an XCOR Lynx rocket plane. His ticket was sponsored by his parents and cost 73,333 euro, according to Eindhovens Dagblad.

Although Media Markt charged the regular price for the flight, they padded the purchase with 6,600 euro worth of consumer electronics.

Earlier this year Sabine van der Sluis (33) won a flight on the Lynx as part of a loyalty scheme promotion, AD wrote back then.

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May 22, 2011

Delft students aiming for space with amateur rocket

Filed under: Technology by Branko Collin @ 2:52 pm

In 2009 students of Delft University broke the European amateur altitude record with a rocket called Stratos. In 2012 they wish to get halfway the edge of space with a rocket called Stratos II.

The students, members of the Delft Aerospace Rocket Engineering association, successfully tested propellant at artillery range ‘t Harde during DARE Launch Day, two weeks ago. Stratos II will be a two stage rocket which will be launched in Norway in 2012.

DARE launched five rockets at its launch day, all of which contained an egg. Two of the eggs survived.

The first amateur rocket to reach space was the GoFast rocket (2004), built by the Civilian Space eXploration Team of the USA.

(See also: Youtube video by De Stentor. Image: DARE mission patch.)

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