The first meeting of the RTV X Prize R&D committee.

Our first brainstorming session brought us to agreement on two important items:

1. Pointy-end up.
2. We all feel a whole lot smarter if we are wearing lab coats.

Construction photos of the original RTV Prize Entry, RTV-1. Notice that our laboratories were not quite so ultra-secret in the early days. We assembled this entry in a city park not far from our great-aunt Effie's house in south Minneapolis.

RTV-1 is shown here mounted on its mobile launch platform. We pulled the trailer into the Food Mart parking lot on the way to the launch site. (The Food Mart had a sale on Mountain Dew.)

A closer view of the RTV-1 mobile launch platform. As long as we were at the Food Mart, we also decided to stock up on tortilla chips, jalepeño refried bean dip, and pickled eggs.

The initial test flight of RTV-1 was hardly an overwhelming success. Extensive failure analysis indicated that the CATO could be attributed to an over-enthusiastic consumption of jalepeño refried bean dip and pickled eggs.

Photo documentation of our failure analysis study.

The ingenious RTV R&D committee members immediately began a search for a replacement launch vehicle. While many alternatives under consideration were ultimately eliminated due to concerns over airworthiness, most were found to offer some measure of generic utility.

The second RTV entry into the X-Prize competition, the RTV-2. Eager to get back into the race after the RTV-1 fiasco, we began work on RTV-2 even before our eyebrows grew back.

We learned our lesson after the high-profile embarrassment of the RTV-1 disaster. This time we hid our project in a neighbor's car port.

Rocket Team Vatsaas has been training with great diligence for our space journey, although our regimen consists of little more than drinking massive amounts of Tang*, and watching old Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Serials. And every so often, we like to point at a model rocket standing on the desk.

* The Tang is to expand our bladders so that we can hold it until splashdown!

We noticed that all the other X-Prize teams had some big-name consultants serving as advisors. Not to be outdone, RTV hired the services of esteemed Russian cosmonaut Igor Grababruski. Igor is shown here demonstrating how to simulate swooping and diving flight profiles while making jet engine noises with your lips.

As you could easily imagine, security on a top-secret project like this one is extremely tight. In this photo Rick takes the early morning shift with Dave Erickson.

At right is Helmer Swensen, a late, honorary member of Rocket Team Vatsaas. This photo was taken shortly before he volunteered to test our personal mission abort system.

We had all hoped for a softer landing.

We got acceleration couches like this one (photo left) really cheap from NASA surplus, we hope to be able to adapt them to our own use.

The same is true for our super-spiffy flight suits, modeled here by Loren Kjersten. We almost abandoned them when we saw how they accentuate Loren's already freakishly wide hips.

Having learned our lesson during the test flight of RTV-1, we made the decision to stay on the ground for the testing of RTV-3. All test flights will be piloted by a marionette and an animated prop from Mystery Science Theater 3000.

RTV Mission Control. Here Billy Dahlberg (center) is seen making fun of Cory McCormick and Burl Finkelstein because he thinks their shirts are too tight.

The NASA space program has been credited with the invention of many items now part of every American household -- like teflon, velcro, and the microwave oven.

We can proudly state that the same is true for the RTV X Prize effort. At right, Cory poses with the storage system he invented to keep our Quizno's 6-Foot Party Sub Sandwich fresh and tasty throughout the flight.