Strap-On Video Rocket

Here you see the rocket tumbling back to the flight line… an unusual perspective.

My LOC NORAD rocket launched with a strap-on video cam from Oregon Scientific. From lessons learned last time, I pre-soldered the AA batteries so they would not disconnect from their spring contacts under the G loads of launch.

The parachute did not unfurl at apogee but the nose cone popped off (delay was too short and the parachute snagged on some internals which I should be able to fix for the future). Luckily the rocket did a decent tumble/roll recovery, giving an unusual horizontal perspective as the rocket fell back to Earth near the flight line.

Here is the video from the rocket. At the end, some kids then run up… I offer a dollar to whoever recovers the rocket. =)

Speaking of video mishap, my friend also launched a video rocket… and I took a funny video from the ground. It became a classic “lawn dart” – where the nose cone deployment does not occur and the rocket comes back to earth ballistic and nose-down into the dirt. The rocket itself had an onboard video system that did not survive the crash, but the video was wirelessly transmitted to a ground station for recording. That’s why the announcer says “Say Cheese” to the crowd.