When Armadillos Fly

John Carmack, creator of Doom and Quake, decided to build some liquid oxygen rockets for the XPrize Lunar Lander competition (twins named Texel and Pixel).

The first attempt by Armadillo Aerospace lifted up, traversed a distance and landed, damaging the landing gear and burning some wires. So many things can go wrong, dooming the mission. Here is some great coverage at the dillo site.