Next Monday, a small group of crazy Danish geniuses plan to launch their own homebuilt rocket into space, after towing it to the launch site via their homebuilt submarine. Who needs NASA?



The non-profit firm known as Copenhagen Suborbital left port with the Heat1X-TychoBrae rocket on Friday, towing the rocket and its launching pad to a spot in the Baltic Sea. If everything goes as planned, the rocket will rise to about 93 miles above the earth — about halfway to the International Space Station — where a capsule with a test dummy will float back to water.

The team, founded by Peter Madsen and Kristian von Bengtson, started testing their rocket designs and engines in February. Their goal is to eventually build a large enough rocket to support a manned flight; even with a test dummy, the Heat1X will still be Denmark's largest rocket launch ever. (Madsen oversaw the construction of the firm's submarine — the same one that towed the rocket and pad to the launch site.)

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Here's a video of the static fire test of the rocket engine:

And they say they come in peace.

The entire effort has been paid for through sponsorships, donations and selling trinkets. You can check out more photos and the official countdown clock to awesome here.


(Hat tip to Less L.!)