[lvspiff]

I've always wondered that myself - If the Russians could build and launch sputnik in 1957 and get it around the earth a few times why aren't we seeing a huge number of backyard dad+son duos building rockets to launch their own telescope array. Its amazing that its a 60 year old feat that is still only in the hands of governments and massive corps

[eichin]

The problem is the lack of a "backyard" ICBM program to piggyback off of... the R-7 that the sputnik launcher was based on "was designed with excess thrust since they were unsure how heavy the hydrogen bomb payload would be" (wikipedia.)

[FredPret]

1) You need more than just getting to space, you need to go really fast when you get there. So, lots of propellant and a big rocket is needed. So, it's really expensive.

2) Because you're setting fire to a big tube of propellant that then goes crazy fast, you need all sorts of permits and safety reviews to do it

3) Space is hard, so your rocket will almost certainly blow up / fail a couple of times.

All of this means: big budgets and state-level patience and persistence is needed

[Aspos]

But there are actually so so many startups and garage enthusiasts at various stages of readiness to put payloads into orbit

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SH3lR2GLgT0

[dylan604]

Rocket science ain't easy. Just because you can build a great telescope does not mean you can build a rocket. Also, I could only imagine the NIMBY revolt when you file your permit plans to build launchpad-38A in your backyard. I hope you don't spend too much time wondering before coming to obvious answers

[woopsn]

You might look up the sagas of Rocket Lab and other small launch providers if you're interested in what it takes to put ~200lb into LEO today. It's way beyond dad and son stuff, still incredibly hard, but not so much anymore that you need to be Boeing/Lockheed/SpaceX/etc if not a national agency. This is a recent achievement.

[KeplerBoy]

Just because it was possible for the soviets back then, doesn't mean it's trivial today.

Rocket fuel is also not exactly easy to come by.