A frame grab from my Nike rocket’s video under thrust…

The motor is a K815 from Cesaroni Aerospace in Canada. The sparks are molten titanium sponge.

I added a nose cone to the Oregon Scientific video cam strapped to the rocket, and it barely hangs on as my fiberglass rocket crosses 500 MPH… The camera gets knocked about; the Velcro strap comes loose and flaps wildly before ripping off a segment. The onboard computer recorded 12.6 G’s of acceleration as she screamed to Mach 0.7 in a couple seconds.

A sandstorm rolled in before I could recover it, so I had no idea if the camera survived the ride, or being dragged across the playa by the winds. When the weather lifted, Erik captured my recovery reaction (below).

20 responses to “Strap-on Video Rocket Blastoff”

  1. The airframe was in perfect shape and the camera survived too.

    Note to self: next time, add Gorilla tape.

  2. Great description. Love the picture below, too. Your enthusiasm for discovery is inspiring!

    Thank you for being you.

  3. Wicked cool!!!


    Seen on my Flickr home page. (?)

  4. Hi, I’m an admin for a group called Creative Commons Zero – CC0, and we’d love to have this added to the group!

  5. the frame grab is awesome, it looks a frame from a Hollywood movie, and your picture too 😉

  6. Thanks for the play-by-play! Glad the camera made it. Great second shot…that’s a happy boy!

  7. Wow – the rocket is still stable with that big honking video cam strapped on the side! Amazing.

  8. great photo of the rocket, wonderful photo of you!

  9. that’s an amazing PoV!

    looks like there was a rocket to the left, and another rocket on the right waiting to launch 🙂

  10. What is the little red thing that falls off right before it takes off?

  11. a plastic igniter holder that is on the nozzle. It keeps the igniter wires from falling out of the motor pre-launch.

    avlxyz: yes… Sometimes I catch the following launches from above.

    Brighthawk Video Rocket Nike Rocket Chaser

    In this case, though, the Brit’s rocket just exploded into a bunch of tiny bits right after takeoff.

  12. Lol – next time you need a video recording!

    cool idea

    123

  13. Great! Your recovery photo makes me laugh.

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