Rockets Red Glare (Part III)

This is the final installment of the rocket launch we watched in April.

This was the unassembled pieces of one of the "big boys" that was launched. I asked the owner how high this rocket would fly. He said it depended on the size of the rocket motor. In this case, the ceiling limit was 11,000 feet, so his motor would take it to about 8,000. He would mount a digital video camera inside so he would watch the playback later when recovered. The camera would be pointed forward towards a mirror, which is the bulge on the black portion of the body.

Here, he is assembling the motor. Rocketry is an expensive sport and you have to know what you're doing to be qualified to handle the materials and safely prepare the rocket for launch. I was amazed at how much prep work has to be done. There are ignitors, electronics, batteries and whatever you decide you want to stuff inside. I think that nuclear warheads are prohibited.

It took him about 45 minutes to complete everything needed to prepare his rocket for launch. Once the launch area was clear, he was able to set it up at one of the launch pads.

We have ignition...

...liftoff...

The roar from this rocket was impressive. It roared upward with the bright flame almost blinding, even in the daylight.

The tail was impressive as it roared high into the sky.

The "event" when a secondary charge separates the the rocket sections and deploys a parachute.

Homeward bound after a successful high altitude launch. The rocket landed about a mile north of the launch site.

In the middle of this photograph is the owner carrying his rocket back. If you do rocketry, you must enjoy taking long strolls to recover your rocket.

A big smile from a successful recovery.

This is a 2-stage rocket that he also assembled. This rocket was simply impressive as it came to life.

When talking to him about this rocket, he said that he put a GPS transmitter in it so he could track it when it lands. He knew this rocket was going to fly very high and would probably be blown off course by the higher level winds from the north.

Here, the first stage was running out and it was preparing to separate and ignite the second stage.

Here, the second stage fired. Just when it did, he exclaimed that his GPS stopped sending a signal. His elation of watching his rocket fly suddenly changed to concern.

The second stage continued to fire, sending it several thousand feet higher.

We lost sight of it when it went behind the cloud. The first stage parachute deployed, (see the little black dot), but the second stage parachute didn't. The owner took a bearing of which way it was headed and jumped in his truck to start a search. Unfortunately, we don't know if he ever found it because we headed home before he returned.

This is a section I call, "Rockets Gone Wild". The rocket on the left is firing, preparing to launch.

Blast off...

...maybe it was a leaky o ring...

...either way, this rocket was doing something that it wasn't intended to.

The rocket found the ground sooner than expected.

This is an impressive 2-stage rocket taking off. I liked the design as it reminded me of the Apollo rockets of the early NASA space programs.

Event, separation and 2nd stage firing.

My speculation is that the 2nd stage rocket delayed in firing. The nose of the rocket suddenly pointed earthward and it accelerated.

The rocket at this point is free falling. All of us were hoping that the parachute would deploy before the impact.

Unfortunately, the 2nd stage was a total loss. The people on the other side of the range were pretty nervous about where it was headed. No one was hurt, except the owners pride.

This rocket had a motor in it that was designed to accelerate it past Mach...which is 761.2 MPH according to Wikipedia.

It accelerated so fast that my camera, which captures 5 frames per second, could not keep up with this rocket.

By time was able to pan up and catch up with it, it was high into the sky. We didn't hear a sonic boom, but it was spectacular to watch something accelerate so quickly.

This was a very creative design for a rocket. It looked like a milk carton that was folded into pyramid.

The rocket zig-zagged wildly as it gained altitude.

After the rocket fuel ran out, it simply spun as it floated back to earth.

The flame from this rocket burned so hot that you could actually feel the heat from it.

The trail from this rocket was impressive as it streaked skyward.

This is how it returned safely back to earth.

The thrust from this rocket was impressive as it kicked up a lot of dust and smoke. It flew into a cloud before the parachute event; so we watched the parachute float out.

"Heads up!" was heard as it headed towards the parking lot.

Rocketry is a very interesting sport or hobby, however you look at it. In the future, I could see me and Benjamin getting into it to learn about physics, aerodynamics, mechanics, electronics and going for long walks.