Launch Report: March 21, 2001
It was March now, and I was getting restless.
I hadn't launched rockets since the fourth of February, and it was time
for the skies to have holes punched in them by some WAEC rockets.
I needed to taste the black powder again.
The previous March, I hadn't launched any rockets
at all, and it stands out as a blatant reminder of my negligence.
Now, I absoloutely had to launch a rocket of some sort or another this
month. I needed to feel the rush of sending a small paper tube hurtling
into the blue.
Since Ted and his girlfriend Gem were here for Spring
Break, I thought it would be fun to use their presence as an excuse to
conduct a launch.
After a little thinking, I decided that this would
be a scale rocket launch only, and would in fact launch all of my scale
rockets that were flyable. I don't have very many, sadly.
The first rocket to take to the skies that day was
my V-2 #2, now sporting a hornet paint scheme (the
first flight was conducted unpainted). This was to be the very first
test of my new launch control system, which I designed and built myself.
In short, it consisted of a 9 V control station, which activated a 12 V
power station by means of a relay switch.
There was absoloutely no delay in this launch, and
the rocket screamed off of the pad the moment I pushed the button.
It flew on a perfectly successful flight, and managed to avoid the soccer
players nearby as it came down from apogee. V-2 #2 now has two flights
on record, topping the original second V-2 in number and quality of success.
The second flight for the day was my Mini-Bomarc
clone, now off into the blue on its second successful flight. Again,
it spiralled a bit on the way up, then headed for the soccer players after
the parachute deployed. It landed right in the thick of them, and
I was very impressed that they didn't touch it. I ran over, picked
it up, and returned it unscathed.
Then I was feeling very brave, and as it threatened
to rain, I decided to try for the first launch of my Estes foam Space Shuttle
glider in nearly three years (it was a disaster, let me tell you, and it's
described in detail here).
Its second flight, which happened at this launch,
was an unqualified success. It took off straight up, and then rolled
to the horizontal and headed out of there like a dingbat, still under power.
When the ejection charge fired, the glider became much more stable and
performed a dramatic pull-up. It then leveled out its glide and screamed
towards the ground. It looked a lot like the photos I've seen of
the real space shuttle during approach and landing.
After it landed, I felt even more brave and launched
it again! This flight did not go quite as well, because the orbiter
lost stability and tumbled towards the ground. It landed softly,
and was none the worse for wear.
We headed home, and I enjoyed the triumph of having
yet another successful rocket launch. Ahhhhhhhhhh...
The following are links to photos taken by my brother Ted with his
digital camera during the launch. They are located on his webpage,
jaeger.festing.org.
image:
Here I am preparing some of the ground support equipment for launch.
This shot provides a good view of the launch pad (built from PVC, steel,
and aluminum), and the power unit, which provides the twelve volts actually
used to ignite the engine.
image:
Which one to launch next?
image:
The Mini-Bomarc is readied to launch.
image:
The Space Shuttle being prepared for launch.
image:
Gem watches me get even more rockets ready for launch.
image:
The Space Shuttle being prepared to launch.