Hugo’s First Flight at NASA

8 responses to “Hugo’s First Flight at NASA”

1. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 20, 2012 at 11:05 pm

   Blastoff!
   

   The heavy asymmetric nose weight, induces a weathercocking into the wind, as expected
   

   Looking at the thrust curve, the thrust drops off after a half-second:

   

   Which induces a pitch-yaw-roll coupling a half-second after launch (from fps analysis)….
   
   (It’s a pattern my son and I saw when we took our carbon fiber rocket past Mach 2)

   It was a bit aggressive to strap a video camera on a small Estes rocket… but Hugo was up for the risk-reward ratio. =)

   Rocket Cam perspective on this nauseating moment
   

   Arcing over the NASA airfield’s Air Traffic Control
   

   Popping the chute
   

   Spying on the secure area of NASA, and formerly NACA, where they house the Vertical Motion Simulator:
   

   Dropping back over Zeppelin Hangar One
   

   A perfect recovery, with the camera still pointing down:
   

   And here’s the video compilation from the ground cams and rocket cam.

   Reply
2. 

   momof3xx

   Aug 21, 2012 at 12:32 am

   Don’t miss your calling, Steve. You should be in the classroom. So so cool. I wish I had these examples when I was learning math.

   Reply
3. 

   Astrocatou

   Aug 21, 2012 at 2:34 am

   Yes…you made his day for sure.

   Reply
4. 

   scleroplex

   Aug 21, 2012 at 3:37 am

   so clear to see!

   Reply
5. 

   solerena

   Aug 21, 2012 at 4:59 am

   Great for kids!

   Reply
6. 

   jheltzel

   Aug 23, 2012 at 5:24 am

   Thanks Steve, what a great day for launching rockets!

   Reply
7. 

   Chucil

   Aug 25, 2012 at 6:19 pm

   Hangar One is gorgeous! Imagine that the Aliens decorate the Hangar with a lot of lights and make it Eiffel Hangar of the Silicon Valley.

   Reply
8. 

   jurvetson

   Aug 25, 2012 at 6:41 pm

   Yes! Exactly!

   

   Reply