PORT ANGELES — Curiosity got the best of dozens of people who stopped by a Lincoln Street parking lot Saturday for a site not seen every day.
The focus? A 22-foot-tall rocket with a pointed orange nose cone standing atop a trailer bed and aimed toward space.
Rubicon, the suborbital tourism vehicle created by Phillip Storm and Eric Meier of Forks-based Space Transport Corp., is envisioned to eventually launch one to three passengers into space and descend into the Pacific Ocean by parachute, providing a 25-minute ride from takeoff to splashdown.
“I know a lot of people who would ride that thing,” said Elmer Floyd of Sequim, who stood in the Rite Aid parking lot and looked up at the rocket ship.
Floyd, who worked for 36 years on spacecraft at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said he admires Storm and Meier for their efforts but has no desire to ride in Rubicon himself.
“I would,” said Marguerite Cummings of Port Angeles, who viewed the craft with her husband and son.
“Sure, why not? What do I have to lose? I’m 77. It would be a fine way to go.”