One of my favorite rockets just bit the dust. The final moment was a fiery ballistic swan dive back to Earth.
It was a wonderful hybrid of three Estes rocket kits: the Oracle for the video camera nose cone, a modified Blue Ninja (built to take E motors), and the red booster stage from a CC Express.
So, in total, I took a video camera rocket designed for a D motor, and jerry-rigged it to take a D booster that then ignites an E second stage. This lets it fly much higher, while capturing video the whole way. I’ll post some thumbnails from her prior flights below, with paths to the video.
This time, however, the main E stage burned brightly but provided no thrust. So it slowly arced over… with a torch burning out of the back. After gathering the debris, I discovered that the failure was in the detachment of the ceramic nozzle from the E motor. Details in the notes above.
With two unusual single-use motor failures recently, I suspect temperature cycling may be the common culprit. I will now store them like a fine wine.
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