I've thought about this exact thing, here's how I think I would do it. this is incredibly naive, but exactly how I would start looking at the problem. 1) get i

I've thought about this exact thing, here's how I think I would do it. this is incredibly naive, but exactly how I would start looking at the problem. 1) get into model rockets - air rockets, water rockets, hobby rockets with real combustable engines (that make loud, cool rocket sounds). 2) learn about quad-copters, model airplanes and balloons as potential high altitude launch vehicles. 2.5) between "getting into" model rockets and quad-copters, you'll be learnig a lot about embedded systems - firmware and microcontrollers that will be the control brains of your rocket and launch vehicle. ..so you obviously have to learn about electronics and programming. 3) start building small rockets - practice launching them with a tiny payloads 4) get accurate in the launches, learn about weather patterns and affects on launch (and recovery). 5) Figure out how to be accurate and hit a target a long distance away - possibly a target that is already flying. 6) find the really expert hobby rocket people to teach you about the big rocket engines that require licenses etc. ..then start building combinations of rockets and launch vehicles that can take larger payloads. 7) do all of this in your garage on a shoe string, take lots of video, share your successes and failures on your blog and maybe just maybe you can figure out how to build a system that you can sell to someone... eventually you're rockets will get to space. Good luck and may the force be with you.