Civilian Space eXploration Team. The Civilian Space eXploration Team, also known as the CSXT, is a team of around 30 civilians interested in private spaceflight.  The team was created by Ky Michaelson.  Having conducted multiple rocket launches in an attempt to establish altitude records, CSXT became the first entity to officially launch an amateur rocket into space on May 17, 2004, with the successful launch of its GoFast rocket to an altitude of 116 km (72 miles) above the surface, which was verified by FAA analysis of the team's flight data.

Prior privately funded space launches were achieved by the Orbital Sciences Pegasus, and many other amateur teams have made unverified claims of rocket flights exceeding the boundary of space.

Team composition
Currently, Ky Michaelson is the CSXT program director. The CSXT's program is subdivided into three teams:
 Rocket Design and Ground Support Equipment
 Avionics and Ground System Design
 Wind Weighting System Development

History
The team was established in 1995 by a group of model rocket hobbyists interested in spaceflight. The team is supported by corporate sponsorship.

D.R. Hero
The D.R. Hero rocket was launched in August 1995.  It was dedicated to stuntman Dar Robinson, a late friend of Ky Michaelson.  The rocket was  tall and  in diameter.  It was anticipated to reach . This rocket failed in a large CATO (catastrophe at take off) motor failure just above the ground.

Joe Boxer launches
Launched on August 18, 1996,  this rocket was also  tall and 6 inches in diameter.  The name is attributed to the largest contributing sponsor, Joe Boxer.  It was anticipated to reach ; however, the actual height obtained was only .  The entire rocket was recovered after what was considered a successful flight.  All of the rocket's systems functioned as intended and this flight was claimed to be the first amateur rocket to be recovered intact after reaching more than .

Space shots

1997
Launched on July 21, 1997,  this slightly smaller rocket was  tall and 6 inches in diameter, with an upper stage dart, which was only 3 or 4 inches across.  It was the first two-stage rocket launched by CSXT and was expected to reach . During the launch, an electronics failure prevented the ignition of the second stage, though the first stage successfully detached and was recovered with a parachute.

2000
This rocket was launched on September 29, 2000, and was  tall and 8.625 inches in diameter. It was expected to reach  with a maximum speed of .  After launch, the rocket encountered problems at , where the wind sheared off the fin, causing the rocket to break apart.  Although the launch was fairly unsuccessful, it did set a record for amateur rocket speed of .

2002
This rocket was launched on September 19, 2002.  It was launched at the Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The rocket was equipped with a solid propellant motor. The motor was to accelerate the rocket to Mach 5. The rocket was equipped with GPS receivers and antennas, video recording devices, and a series of flight monitoring devices.  Three seconds after the rocket launched the motor burned through the casing, causing the rocket to fail.

2004 "GoFast"

The rocket was launched on Monday, May 17, 2004. This rocket was the first amateur rocket to exceed , the official boundary of outer space.  It was launched at the Black Rock Desert.  The rocket reached top speed of  in 10 seconds, and reached an estimated altitude of . The avionics were recovered by deployment of a parachute.
The final verified altitude of the rocket was released as .

The rocket was  tall and  in diameter, and used an ammonium perchlorate-based solid propellant.

2014 "GoFast"
On July 14, 2014, the team repeated their accomplishment with a second successful space launch. Analysis of the data from the recovered military-grade Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) that flew onboard shows that the GoFast rocket reached an altitude of  above mean sea level and hit a top speed of .

See also 
Amateur rocketry
Private spaceflight
Copenhagen Suborbitals
Sounding Rocket

References

External links
 High Altitude Amateur Rocket Records, HobbySpace.com (2004)
 Mystery Solved: Stratofox Recovers CSXT Booster, Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2004)
 CSXT SpaceShot 2004 - First Amateur Launch to Space, Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2004)
 Recollections of the CSXT Space Shot 2004 (5th anniversary page), Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team (2009)
 , posted by Ky Michaelson
 , posted by Wayne Vaughan
 , posted by Derek Deville
 , posted by Ian Kluft
 The Rocketman, Ky Michaelson's website.
 , posted by Ky Michaelson

Rocketry
Private spaceflight
Amateur radio organizations
1995 establishments in the United States