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In February 2007, Time magazine ranked id Software's John Carmack high on its list of space cowboys with a legit shot at getting into space, which, as I've always understood it, is the final frontier. A year and a half later, Forbes puts Carmack and his Armadillo Aerospace team, which is working out of Rockwall, at the very front of the pack, especially as they spend a fraction of a fraction of what their competitors, among them Amazon's Jeff Bezos, are doling out to reach the thin air.
Carmack has spent only $3.5 million on his Armadillo Aerospace, but he's had more launches than Bezos and Musk combined. He's attacking rocketry the way he would assemble software: design, build, test and repeat in rapid-fire succession to quickly determine what works and what doesn't.
They're also selling boxer shorts, for those who like a rocket in their pants. --Robert Wilonsky
Keep the Dallas Observer Free... Since we started the Dallas Observer, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Dallas, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Dallas with no paywalls.