Mayback reaches for the stars.

For Ft. Lauderdale attorney Greg Mayback, the childhood years spent tinkering with model toys and electronics have finally paid off. He can officially add "rocket launcher" to his long list of credentials, and this time, the rocket wasn't a model from a kit bought at the local hobby store. It was the real deal.

This September, Mayback, a registered patent attorney with a degree in engineering, partnered with Derek Deville, a former client and development engineer for Syntheon, a medical equipment manufacturer in Miami, to launch a 26-foot tall civilian rocket into the late summer sky. Mayback and his South Florida firm, Mayback & Hoffman, sponsored the rocket's production.

The rocket, which exceeded expectations by traveling 121,000 feet into the air, was part of a national contest designed to foster continued interest in space transportation and research. Mayback and Deville served as leaders of Team Qu8k (pronounced "Quake"), a group of engineers and developers who created the final rocket for competition.

Four team members, including Deville and Mayback, traveled to Nevada's Black Rock Desert to launch the rocket in the 2011 Carmack Challenge. This year's challenge was simple but daunting: to develop the first civilian rocket to exceed 100,000 feet above launch altitude. The rocket had to be recovered intact within 24 hours of the launch, and the flight's GPS serial log had to be provided to contest judges as proof of the rocket's trajectory.

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Team Qu8k's rocket blew those first two requirements out of the water by attaining over 100,000 feet and recovering 100 percent of the vehicle, but a GPS malfunction --despite four systems located on board --has prevented a formal announcement of the team as challenge winners. Still, said Mayback, who helped assemble and set up the tower, assemble all of the rocket parts, and load the rocket into the tower, Team Qu8k accomplished something amazing.

"This wasn't just a rocket that...