Civilian Space EXploration Team

The Civilian Space eXploration Team, known as CSXT, is a team of around 30 civilians interested in private spaceflight. The team was created by Ky Michaelson. Having conducted multiple rocket launches in an attempt to establish altitude records, CSXT became the first entity to officially launch an amateur rocket into space on May 17 2004, with the successful launch of its GoFast rocket to 116 km (72 miles) altitude, an altitude verified by FAA analysis of the team's flight data.Rocketman Enterprises (2005). CSXT: Civilian Space eXploration Team. Retrieved on 2007-01-27.
http://www.the-rocketman.com/CSXT/default2.asp, http://www.the-rocketman.com/CSXT/about/teamlist.htm#, http://www.the-rocketman.com/go-fast.html

Prior privately funded space launches were achieved by the Orbital Sciences Pegasus, and many amateur teams have made unverified claims of rocket flights exceeding the boundary of space.

History

The team was established in 1995 by a group of model rocket hobbyists interested in spaceflight. The team is supported by corporate sponsorship.

Team Composition

Currently Ky Michaelson is the program director. CSXT's program was subdivided into three teams:
# Rocket Design and Ground Support Equipment
# Avionics and Ground System Design
# Wind Weighting System Development

The D.R. Hero Rocket

The D.R. Hero rocket was launched in August 1995. It was dedicated to stuntman Dar Robinson, a late friend of Ky Michaelson. The rocket was tall and 6 inches in diameter. It was anticipated to reach . The actual launch height was not reported. This rocket failed in a large CATO (Catastrophe At Take Off) motor failure just above the ground.

The Joe Boxer Space Launcher

Launched on August 18, 1996 this rocket, was also tall and 6 inches in diameter. The name of the Rocket is attributed the largest contributing sponsor, Joe Boxer. It was anticipated to reach , however, the actual height obtained was only . The entire rocket was recovered after what was considered a successful flight. All of the rocket's systems functioned as intended and this was claimed to be the first amateur rocket to be recovered intact after reaching more than .

Space Shot - 1997

Launched on July 21, 1997 this slightly smaller rocket was tall and 6 inches in diameter, with an upper stage dart, only 3 or 4 inches across. It was the first two-stage rocket launched by CSXT, and was expected to reach . The rocket was a P 13,500 first stage as booster for a N motor upper stage. This would have been the largest high-performance two-stage flight in the history of hobby rocketry, beating by double the O 10,000 to M Kosdon flights. During the launch, an electronics failure prevented the ignition of the second stage, though the first stage successfully detached, and was recovered with a parachute.

Space Shot - 2000

This rocket was launched on September 29, 2000, and was tall and 8.625 inches in diameter. It was expected to reach with a maximum speed of . After launch the rocket encountered problems at where the wind sheared off the fin causing the rocket to break apart. Although the launch was fairly unsuccessful, it did set a record for amateur rocket speed of .

Space Shot - 2002

This rocket was launched on September 19, 2002. It was launched at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The rocket was equipped with a solid propellant motor. The motor was to accelerate the rocket to Mach 5. The rocket was equipped with GPS receivers and antennas, video recording devices, and a series of flight monitoring devices. Three seconds after the rocket launched the motor burned through the casing, causing the rocket to fail.

Space Shot 2004 "GoFast" Rocket

The rocket was launched on Monday, May 17, 2004. This rocket was the first amateur rocket to exceed , the official boundary of outer space. It was launched at the Black Rock Desert. The rocket reached top speed of in 10 seconds, and reached an estimated altitude of . The avionics were recovered by deployment of a parachute.
The final verified altitude was released as .

The rocket was tall and in diameter, and used an ammonium perchlorate based solid propellant.

Space Shot 2014 "GoFast" Rocket

On July 14, 2014 the team repeated their accomplishment with a second successful space launch, which set new records for the highest and fastest amateur rocket ever launched. Analysis of the data from the recovered military grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that flew onboard shows that the GoFast rocket reached an altitude of (above mean sea level) and hit a top speed of .

See also

* Amateur rocketry
*Private spaceflight
*Copenhagen Suborbitals, another amateur spaceflight organization, which is developing a manned space program.
* Sounding Rocket

References

External links

High Altitude Amateur Rocket Records
HobbySpace.com (2004)

Mystery Solved: Stratofox Recovers CSXT Booster
Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2004)

CSXT SpaceShot 2004 - First Amateur Launch to Space
Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2004)

Recollections of the CSXT Space Shot 2004
(5th anniversary page), Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2009)
* , posted by Ky Michaelson
* , posted by Wayne Vaughan
* , posted by Derek Deville
* , posted by Ian Kluft


Ky Michaelson's website.
* , posted by Ky Michaelson

{{Black Rock Desert, brdcat=History

Rocketry
Private spaceflight
Amateur radio organizations
1995 establishments in the United States