Britain's rocket man stands by for blast-off
By Nigel Bunyan
(Filed: 04/04/2003)

It may look like a cross between a wheelie bin and Flash Gordon's go-kart, but it could help propel Steve Bennett towards a historic flight in space.

"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," said the founder of the Starchaser firm, shifting his glance away from the capsule's rather bulbous rear end. "The most important thing is for it to be functional."

It will need to be. Next month Nova II, whose designers proclaim it to be Britain's first manned rocket capsule, will be fired 30,000ft into the skies above Arizona.

Mr Bennett, 39, a father of two from Hyde, Greater Manchester, will then have to steer his 440lb construction of epoxy glass, alloy and aeronautical dials to a runway landing. In test runs, when the capsule is dropped from an aircraft, skydivers will stand by to drag him clear if things go wrong.

But the would-be astronaut will be entirely on his own once the rocket-driven version hurtles into the atmosphere at 4,000mph.

Mr Bennett, who has dreamed of reaching space since he was five, is supremely confident that the test flight - watched by his children Max, 12, and Tabetha, six - will succeed.

Assuming he survives the Arizona testing, he will be within reach of claiming the X-Prize: a $10 billion (£6.5 billion) bounty for the first independent rocket team to twice send three people - the pilot and two passengers - into space and back.

Two unnamed passengers have already bought tickets for the projected launch, while a third will go to the winner of an internet prize. The final berth is on sale for £500,000.

Mr Bennett, who has already spent £2 million on the project, appears to have given up hope of his X-Prize bid coinciding with the centenary of the world's first powered flight in December.

It now appears most likely that his chosen rocket, Thunderbird, will take off from Woomera, Australia, next year. He believes his Starchaser team is still ahead of the other 20 groups bidding for the X-Prize. "There are a lot of people talking about building rockets but we are the ones walking the walk."