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As the first civilian to successfully launch an amateur rocket into space in 2004, and a holder of a great many rocketry-related world records since the 1960s, Ky Michaelson has truly earned his self-anointed title as ‘The Rocketman’. Following a decorated career as a Hollywood stunt performer and coordinator, Michaelson, now aged 82, is retired from show business and spends most of his time building rockets in his garage. And his audacious spirit hasn’t mellowed with age. These days, he has his sights set on launching the first homemade manned rocket into space. This upbeat documentary portrait by the US-based director Rachel Knoll explores Michaelson’s unconventional path as a high-school dropout turned rocket engineer who wouldn’t let dyslexia stop him from aiming for the sky.
Director: Rachel Knoll
Producer: John Pesavent
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Death
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Nature and landscape
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Design and fashion
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Physics
A song of ice, fire and jelly – exploring the physics and history of the trumpet
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Architecture
Tour the European architecture that dreamed of a wondrous, fictitious China
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Spirituality
Trek alongside spiritual pilgrims on a treacherous journey across Pakistan
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Thinkers and theories
Photographs offer a colonialist window to the past – one that must be challenged
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Animals and humans
An artist and ants collaborate on an exhibit of ‘tiny Abstract Expressionist paintings’
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Mathematics
How a curious question about colouring maps changed mathematics forever
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