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Oregon’s ‘Rocketguy’ rebounding after earthly struggles

Fifteen years after he announced plans to launch himself to the edge of space in a homemade rocket, Bend’s Brian Walker remains earthbound.

Walker, now 59, was widely known as “Rocketguy” during his nearly three years in the spotlight, when he appeared on dozens of television talk shows to discuss his dream of becoming the first person to mount a do-it-yourself mission to space.

Due to his hectic media tour schedule and an unanticipated sharp decline in his income, Walker was never able to complete the rocket he hoped to ride 35 to 50 miles into the sky. A brief marriage failed, and Walker slipped into a deep depression, battling suicidal thoughts and struggling to regain the creative spark he’d enjoyed in earlier years.

In the years that followed, he sold off “Cape Sagebrush,” the miniature spaceflight training campus he’d built on the northeast fringe of Bend, and moved into a more modest home near NE Bear Creek Road. From there, he’s launching what he calls his “comeback,” starting with a new website, new inventions, a still-under-wraps entry he hopes to debut at the Bend Pet Parade on July 4 and a similarly secretive idea for a space-based spectacle that can be seen all over the world.

Diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2009, Walker wants to serve as a living example of how creativity and mental illness often go hand in hand. He wants his rise and fall - and he hopes, his next rise - to be a source of inspiration for others struggling with similar issues.