I liked this shot with my former college roommate and son…
A first rocket launch experience…. and good kickoff for the Super Bowl.
11 responses to “First Rocket”
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on most launches with mid-power motors and strong breezes, the rocket is carried quite some distance, and it helps to have a mountain bike ready as the chaser / recovery vehicle. This time, we got remarkably lucky, and it landed in plain sight in the backyard.
And here is the last photo my roommate Kenneth took of me… climbing the Dish
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Speaking of rocket builds, here are a couple recent ones… A quick duct-tape rocket with golf-ball nosecone for our annual meeting evening party (I wanted something "disposable" for a last flight of the vintage Animal Motor Works skidmark, no longer in production) and a rebuild of the LOC IV that took a nose dive during the night at October Skies:
compare the one on the left to its prior incarnation below:
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I shot a rocket into the air
It fell to earth, I know not where…’Long, long afterward, in an oak
I found the rocket, still unbroke.
(apologies to Longfellow) -
When I was younger (I’ve not done it for years and I’m not sure why) I bought a two-rocket starter kit containing those small rockets. After several flights on the lowest power estes motors, I accidentally bought some of the E class ones.
I’m somewhat surprised the nearby airfield didn’t object, (this is probably more due to ignorance than tolerance) when after considering if I wanted to risk losing my rocket as it drifted downrange I launched it, saw it disappear through the clouds, and return almost directly above us a few seconds later, only to have it land securely 20 metres up an oak tree, irretrievable.
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