Homemade Astronauts
American television show
Homemade Astronauts is a television show on Science Channel (Discovery Science USA) and Discovery+ that debuted in 2021. It featured three self financed teams, who design and build their own equipment, in an attempt to reach the edge of space. The people are average Americans building on their farms, ranches, garages, and backyards.
01History
Mike Hughes reached 1,875 feet (572 m) altitude in a manned steam rocket in 2018, filmed for the series, setting a record for an amateur manned rocket.
Discovery Networks gave the greenlight for full series production in 2019, for airing on The Science Channel in 2020.
In February 2020, during filming of an attempt by Mike Hughes to reach 5,000 ft (1,500 m) or 1 mi (1.6 km) in altitude, the steam rocket crashed on landing, killing Hughes.
In March 2020, the show filmed an attempt by Kurt Anderson to break the world ice speed record in his rocket sled Arctic Arrow using a peroxide rocket, with the Rocketboys team. The attempt resulted in a crash that destroyed the dragster sled, reaching 241 mph (388 km/h), short of the record of 247 mph (398 km/h).
Season 1 began airing in May 2021, having been filmed over 2.5 years, for a total of 4 episodes. Season 1 carries a dedication 'This series is dedicated to Michael "Mad Mike" Hughes 1956-2020', and uses the title crawl "The newDIY space race is here. Tech giantsEveryday people are making history. They're using their billionscredit cards to fund their dreams."
02Cast
Cast featured on the show include:
- Team Hughes/Stakes
- Mike Hughes, professional daredevil, wannabe astronaut
- Waldo Stakes, vehicle designer; builder of Hughes' manned rocket
- Stephanie, Waldo's daughter and team member
- The Rocketboys (Team Michaelson/Anderson)
- Ky Michaelson, SFX artist, stuntman, and founder of the Civilian Space eXploration Team, the first amateur group to build a rocket which crossed the Kármán line
- Kurt Anderson, Rocketboys mechanical engineer, and Arctic Arrow rocket sled dragster pilot, wannabe astronaut
- David, Rocketboys electronics engineer
- Buddy Michaelson, son of Ky, Rocketboys parachute expert
- Pacific Space Flight (Team Smith)
- Cameron Smith, doctor of anthropology and archaeology, Portland State University anthropology professor, built his own pressure suit to pilot his balloon to the edge of space.
- Majorie, a student and part of Team Smith
03Teams
Teams shown include:
- The Rocketboys: (Team Michaelson/Anderson) using a solid fuel rocket; attempting to build a crewed space rocket to reach the edge of space (50 mi (80 km)), the McDowell Line
- Team Hughes/Stakes, using a balloon launch steam rocket rockoon to reach 62 mi (100 km) up, the Kármán Line
- Pacific Space Flight: (Team Smith) using a balloon; to reach the Armstrong Line (63,000 ft (19,000 m) or 20 km (12 mi)), in a high altitude balloon
04Episodes
| No. | Title | Original release date | Prod. code |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "I Want to Go to Space" | 13 May 2021 (2021-05-13) | TBA |
| 2 | "Full Tilt Boogie" | 13 May 2021 (2021-05-13) | TBA |
| 3 | "Remember the Hindenburg" | 13 May 2021 (2021-05-13) | TBA |
| 4 | "Maybe This is the Day" | 13 May 2021 (2021-05-13) | TBA |
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Homemade Astronauts”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Homemade Astronauts Poster.jpg by Unknown author, Fair use
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