# Could an "Astronaut Farmer" mission actually succeed? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 5, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336 "2008-07-05T00:12:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/1 "2008-07-05T00:12:36Z")
The “Astronaut Farmer” movie with Billy Bob Thornton shows a rocket scientist, living on a farm, able to build an apollo like rocket with spare parts and rocket fuel. Could such a thing happen, realistically? A genius-level rocket scientist, with scrapped rocket materials from NASA, and enough room? Would there be any law against an unarmed rocket being lauched? Clearly it is not against the laws of physics, and therefore possible, but could a private ‘farmer’ pull it off? ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/2 "2008-07-05T00:22:24Z")
Well, to start with, an unauthorized launch of a rocket large enough to carry a person just might set off a few alarms at NORAD, especially given today’s climate of fear. ---
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/3 "2008-07-05T00:25:16Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] Well, to start with, an unauthorized launch of a rocket large enough to carry a person just might set off a few alarms at NORAD, especially given today’s climate of fear. [/QUOTE] Ah but is there any law against it? I would imagine authorization could be gotten, as the rocket is unarmed. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/4 "2008-07-05T00:27:14Z")
I doubt that he could manage anything that could reach the Moon. As for something smaller, I recall ( vaguely ) some years ago reading about a scientist or engineer of some sort who built his own Titan missile. Which is impressive, but no Moon mission. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/5 "2008-07-05T00:28:12Z")
Meet [Robert Truax](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Truax). He was a Navy rocket scientist who built the X-2 ‘Skycycle’ that Evel Knievel used to attempt to jump the Snake River Canyon. He also built the ‘X-3 VolksRocket’, which was a manned rocket built using surplus parts, and which was designed to make it into suborbital space, much like Burt Rutan’s SpaceshipOne. I wouldn’t be surprised if Truax was the inspiration for the Astronaut Farmer. [Here’s a link with some details of his plans](http://neverworld.net/truax/). ---
**Author:** ![scrambledeggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@scrambledeggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scrambledeggs)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/6 "2008-07-05T00:30:06Z")
Just to clarify, the goal of the mission was not to go near the moon, just an outerspace “low orbit” tour. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/7 "2008-07-05T00:35:09Z")
Even if you built it, what’s it cost to fuel a rocket capable of going into low-earth orbit? I’d think just that step would be forbiddingly expensive for an individual. ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/8 "2008-07-05T00:36:26Z")
Probably not a “law” per se (IANAL–maybe some of the TM from the legal profession could shed some light?), but I would imagine there would be any number of “environmental impact studies” or similar types of red tape that would have to be done before such a mission could be undertaken. I would think launching said mission without those prerequisites would probably violate some laws. Hey, you wanted “realistic”–government red tape is about as realistic as it gets! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/9 "2008-07-05T00:38:24Z")
Just because you’re a rocket scientist doesn’t mean that you have all of the disciplines under your belt needed to launch a craft. There’s a lot of comptuer processing and modelling and stuff you need to have that would be difficult to accomplish alone. You’d need several tons of very particular materials for fuel, which would most likely cost a good fortune, if even accessible to private citizens in large enough quantities. You’d need machinery that allowed you to build things to very particular tolerances. Just because you have access to the parts doesn’t mean that you have the capability of putting it together well enough. And anything you tried to fashion yourself would most likely be unsuitable, again, unless you had the ability to meet strict tolerances. Most likely you’d be restricted to building something that was essentially already built and designed and was simply in parts. Overall, it would be mostly infeasible to construct anything larger than maybe 10 feet long–which would probably already be inordinately heavy–and I’m not sure whether that’s got the fuel mass to break out of orbit. Earthly rocket, yes certainly you could build one. Apollo? No…I’d be highly doubtful. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/10 "2008-07-05T01:10:31Z")
[QUOTE=scrambledeggs] Ah but is there any law against it? I would imagine authorization could be gotten, as the rocket is unarmed. [/QUOTE] Yes. When you get into model rocketry there are altitude limitations that require certification to move beyond. Same with model airplanes. You have to be certified to fly jet models. Beyond that you have to be a pilot and have a flight plan for high altitude flight. Oh, and the rocket represented in the movie was financially beyond farmer Brown’s budget, even if purchased as spare parts for pennies on the dollar. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Sensitive](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/58956e/32.png) [@Darth\_Sensitive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Sensitive)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/11 "2008-07-05T05:06:48Z")
To be fair, it was essentially a Mercury style capsule - not Apollo level complexity. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/12 "2008-07-05T12:29:28Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] Yes. When you get into model rocketry there are altitude limitations that require certification to move beyond. Same with model airplanes. You have to be certified to fly jet models. Beyond that you have to be a pilot and have a flight plan for high altitude flight. [/QUOTE] And an instrument rating to go with your pilot’s license. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2008, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/13 "2008-07-05T15:53:40Z")
[QUOTE=want2know] Well, to start with, an unauthorized launch of a rocket large enough to carry a person just might set off a few alarms at NORAD, especially given today’s climate of fear. [/QUOTE] Would it? Has NORAD fixed the hole in the radar over the North American continent? > [@](#): > > And NORAD’s sophisticated radar? It ringed the continent, looking outward for threats, not inward. “It was like a doughnut,” Martin says. “There was no coverage in the middle.” Pre-9/11, flights originating in the States were not seen as threats and NORAD wasn’t prepared to track them. [http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military\_law/1227842.html?page=3](http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/1227842.html?page=3) ---
**Author:** ![user\_hostile](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/user_hostile/32/474_2.png) [@user\_hostile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/user_hostile)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2008, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/14 "2008-07-08T22:18:44Z")
Also needed: Vacuum worthiness certificate ---
**Author:** ![bday55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c5a1d2/32.png) [@bday55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bday55)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/15 "2021-01-08T13:37:03Z")
Interesting movie. To think of all the skills he would have to possess to even attempt this (plus the $$). NASA only hires the cream of the crop and they’ve had many setbacks. This ‘you can do anything’ message is scary. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/16 "2021-01-08T18:13:23Z")
Moderating: Welcome bday55 and happy birthday if that is indeed what your UID means. But please do not revive old threads (we call them zombies) unless you have something useful to add. Thread closed. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2021, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-an-astronaut-farmer-mission-actually-succeed/455336/17 "2021-01-08T18:13:36Z")