Author Description

Since the 1960s, Ky Michaelson's rocket-powered vehicles have set 72 state, national, and international speed records. His penchant for the unknown and passion for speed have been with him since childhood, when he built his first rocket-powered motorcycle. After earning his first world record--for a rocket-powered snowmobile--he decided to go after every acceleration record in the world. This is Ky's story, the life of a driven--or rocket-powered--man. Ky tells about how he began and where hes gone, about his work on hundreds of film and television programs, and about his service as program director of "SPACESHOT 2004"--the grand effort of the Civilian Space Exploration Team (CSXT) to build and launch the first amateur rocket into space. And he describes reaching the "impossible dream" as the first amateur to license, and successfully launch, the Go Fast Rocket into space, with an altitude of 72 miles--and a new speed record of 3,420 mph.