Ever since he was eight years old, Brian Walker has dreamed of going into space. Thirty-six years later, it looks like he might get the chance.

Next May, in what sounds like something stolen from the plot of a cheap sci-fi movie, Walker will blast himself toward the edge of space in a 24-foot rocket he’s building in his backyard. And in case that statement hasn’t hit you yet, let me repeat myself: The man’s building a spaceship. In his backyard.

Until about six years ago, Walker was broke and living with his parents. Unable to settle down into the conformity of a regular nine to five job, Walker spent his time tinkering on inventions of his own design; failing attempts included a two-person recreational submarine and a hard hat with a built-in ventilation system. When it seemed like he was at his lowest, Walker’s efforts finally paid off in the form of space-related toys: laser guns, rockets and alien spaceships. Royalties came rolling in, and soon Walker found himself living comfortably in a wealthy Oregon suburb, driving nothing less than a BMW Roadster.

Although Walker could’ve settled down and lived like a king, he still wasn’t satisfied. The man wanted something more; he wanted the stars. Walker set to work designing a rocket ship capable of propelling him 30 miles straight up into the sky.

To do this, Walker has devised a plan that, although surprisingly simple in theory, stands a good chance of succeeding. After reaching his 30-mile apogee, where he’ll be able to see hundreds of miles in every direction, Walker will drift in the wind before falling back into Earth’s atmosphere. At this point, Walker will eject a giant homemade parachute from the capsule and float harmlessly back to the ground.

As exciting and overly optimistic as this may sound, there are still aspects of Walker’s plan that leave onlookers doubtful. His rocketship, pictures of which can be seen at www.rocketguy.com, looks like a phallic nightmare from an episode of Buck Rogers, a bulbous pod perched on top of a long tank containing 9,000 pounds of highly volatile hydrogen peroxide that was refined in a homemade distillery —a far cry from the precision and expertise of NASA engineering. Make no mistake: The likelihood of Walker being reduced to a wet smear of crimson matter upon re-entry, if he’s fortunate enough to make it that far, is absurdly high, but is he really crazy?

You bet he is.

Now I’ll admit, I nearly died laughing over the photos of Walker standing in front of his rocket, but in looking at those pictures, I realized that Walker was smiling because he was proud. After years of dreaming and plotting, this man was finally on his way to accomplishing something seemingly impossible, something that had been gnawing away at him since he was a child … who wouldn’t be proud of that?

Walker, to date, has spent some $250,000 on what many would consider to be a glorious suicide, but it’s his dream, and he’s willing to see this thing through no matter what it takes. When was the last time you could say that for yourself, eh? We’re so content to come home after work and veg out in front of the TV that we’ve forgotten what it was to really want something out of life, to be consumed so completely by our dreams that there’s nothing we wouldn’t do to see them achieved.

To take it one step further, Walker’s a dreamer in the purest sense of the word, taking his rightful place next to the likes of Da Vinci, Franklin, Einstein and countless others whose “crazy” ideas have shaped and defined our world. Imagine if more of us were like Walker, driven by our mad, beautiful dreams to create and explore.

It’d be one hell of a strange world, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.