A private spaceflight company that specializes in vertical takeoffs and landings is exploring launch services in florida , hoping to demonstrate its rockets by early next year .
When he left for a term at zurich 's institute of technology , he continued his experiments , built a contraption that spun mice in simulation of rocket takeoffs .
Before we started , I asked the secret service not once , but twice , to make sure I wouldn 't cause any delay in takeoffs or landings if I put off our departure for a few minutes .
