Canon EOS 5D
ƒ/4
32 mm
1/25
800

While showing the new TED.com site to the TED audience this year, as luck would have it, my short video on the Joy of Rockets popped up.

The “Mavericks” subtitle for the session was apt, as we had recently launched the RocketMavericks site. I also referenced Branson and Diamandis, who spoke after me and took time for a playful photo.

Many of us remember Estes rockets when we were kids – 300 million launches sure left an impression.

And it’s still true today; rocketry can be deeply inspirational to a new generation who sometimes wonder where the excitement is in learning physics, math and science in general. Rocket science is tangible.

Like NASCAR, there is a lot of excitement in the crashes – as long as nobody gets hurt, and ideally, if it’s not your rocket or car that wipes out. Keep in mind that with the layers of safety protocols, nobody has been killed launching these rockets, and you can’t say that of golf or softball. 😉

But rockets are MUCH more exciting than most hobbies. Their roar quickens the pulse. Especially when they fall from the sky as ballistic lawn darts, shred fins at Mach 2, or pop into a frenetic break dance overhead.

(More launch videos and photos)

7 responses to “Rocket Talk”

  1. i bet you like homer hickam 🙂

    that must have been a really good feeling when your video popped up!

  2. My son’s majoring in ME/Aeronautics, thanks in part to many Estes launches and an overnighter at Black Rock to participate in the next level up with AeroPac. You’re right, the excitement is addictive.

  3. Talking about rockets, we lost one of the biggest SPACE inspiration yesterday. With the death of Arthur C. Clarke. As Gi said "Long live to Sir Clarke." =)

    PhotonQ-Arthur2 C0. Clarke0 1 Life Odyssey

    By the way…do you have any idea of how often you are on camera on TedTalks videos ? OFTEN !!! =P

  4. heh, I guess the front row geeks end up on camera…

    @deborah: I loved October Sky

    @rosendahl: rockin’ good news. I had a very similar experience with Aeropac at XPRS … On that first trip to the Black Rock Desert for a high-power rocketry launch, I was camping with a member of the 100K team. It was a beautiful rocket, but a software bug brought the upper stage back to earth as a ground-penetrating “bunker buster” that tunneled and blasted out a cave 14 feet under ground.

    "All In" to 100K ft.

    It was the most exciting weekend of my life. My wife is OK with that claim.

  5. We watched and felt one make a crater the weekend we were there, it didn’t tunnel, just spread shrapnel in a 40′ radius. It was strange, though, hearing that whistling sound as it was headed earthbound – just like in the old WWII movies.

    Wouldn’t loved to feel the earth shake on that tunneling crash!

  6. Thanks for licensing your images via Creative Commons!

    We have used it for a resource on Free Language:)

    freelanguage.org/multilingual/be-inspired-while-learning-…

    Please let me know if there are any issues with the way we have
    attributed your work.

    Thanks and keep up the great photos!

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