> Rockets are dangerous

What an insight! If only all these daredevils knew that their occupation was hazardous, they could die a healthy death by cardiovascular disease, like the rest of us.

There is a difference between a calculated risk and a death wish. I am by no means anti daredevil. Go ahead and jump from the edge of space or ride a motorcycle over a canyon. Just don't fly in an amateur rocket if you have any sense of self preservation. The budget to do it safely is far out of reach for the self funded thrill seeker.

Alan Eustace dove from the "edge" of space. That would kill you or if we tried, but he figured out how to do it safely.

That's the magic -- doing what seems impossible to survive. Doing what is impossible to survive, and dying, is just stupid.

Designing, building, and successfully flying a manned homemade rocket isn't impossible.

It is improbable, difficult, and dangerous.

Did he enrich himself through this activity? Most people doing this sort of thing put more money into it than they bring in.