Ingy would like to let slip the bonds of earth: A mini-documentary (runtime 8:23) and short piece from The New Yorker (catch them both here) tell the story of an amateur rocketeer’s dream to become “the first civilian to launch a rocket into space.” Ky Michaelson, a.k.a Rocketman, had always had a thing for rockets. “He has put rockets on everything from rollerblades to wheelchairs,” the magazine writes. Shooting one out into the atmosphere proved slightly more challenging though. Michaelson’s first tries in the ‘90s were unsuccessful, and when he finally made a breakthrough in 2004, he “ran up against a force even more challenging than scarce funds or unorthodox materials: the federal bureaucracy.” There was no legal framework to process the Rocketman’s request for a civilian license to launch a rocket out of Black Rock Desert in Nevada. Michaelson spent months wading through the red tape, but on the day of the launch, with no official authorization to fly, a chance encounter in the middle of the desert changed his fate. (Check out Michaelson’s official website about his Civilian Space Exploration Team for more footage of the launch)