Nine Objectives
About the WAEC
I began the WAEC during 8th grade, which was now about 3 1/2 years ago, in 1999. Since then, I have completed 8th grade, and the first three years of high school. I only have one year left ere I graduate and head off to college. If all goes well, I shall study in college subjects relating to my hobby of rocketry, except on a larger scale, and hopefully involving vehicles that will launch people and sattelites into space. As a side note, I plan to take mechanical engineering for my undergraduate degree, and take aerospace engineering for graduate work. I intend to then work in a space program (perhaps with NASA, or perhaps in the private field).
Thus, my final year of high school will be the last year of the WAEC, or at least the last year in the forseeable future. In the past 3 1/2 years, I have accomplished a great deal in model rocket. But, to my shock, I realized that I had not accomplished all of the things I had in mind when I set out. There were still things I had wanted to do for ages that I had not yet done.
So, I created a list of nine of unfinished items, or nine
objectives. After I wrote it up in pen and signed the piece of
paper, it was official. The WAEC Nine Objectives, as I saw them,
would be the final triumphant flourish for the WAEC. I allowed
myself a full year, 366 days, to complete these objectives. In
short, they were:
*1. Build and fly a scale model of the Saturn V rocketI gave myself free reign to use whatever means neccesary to accomplish these objectives. I was allowed to convert preexisting objects, and drain the coffers of the WAEC. The progress is charted below in reverse chronological order.
*2. Build and fly a scale model of the Gemini-Titan II rocket
*3. Build a flying model of the Chrysler Building
*4. Build and operate a functional scale launch pad
*5. Convert a static plastic model into a flying rocket
*6. Earn the Pathfinder Advanced Rocketry Honor
*7. Experiment with complex tracking and recovery techniques, including two-station tracking
*8. Experiment with aerial photography or cinematography
*9. Create detailed plans for all of the WAEC's designs
7-6-04: With slightly less than one day left in the challenge, I completed the final remaining objective, to create official plans of all of the WAEC's original rocket designs for posterity. Now, I have finished all nine of the objectives, and I have conquered the challenge I gave myself barely less than a year ago. The final, triumphant stave of the WAEC is closed. Tomorrow, at noon, the WAEC will disband, after having stayed in continual operation for four years and eight months. The WAEC ranks among the greatest accomplishments of my life to this point.
7-1-04: Success again, with six days left in the challenge. Today I, with the help of my friend Ben and my brother Ted, I fired off my Chrysler Building model on a successful mission, checking off the third objective as complete. The flight was stable, and as an added bonus, I caught the model before it hit the ground. I also fired off Space Racer II and, with Ted and Ben tracking it, I was able to accomplish the seventh objective as well. The rocket flew at least 260 meters high, and I was able to successfully recover it. I only have one objective left to accomplish, having now conducted the last launch of the WAEC.
6-15-04: Rejoice! With a mite more than three weeks left in the challenge, I have completed two more objectives, bringing the total up to six of nine completed. This morning, I fired off my scale Saturn V and Gemini Titan II rockets. They both sustained damage from the flight, but I can still count both as achieved objectives. I also launched a 1/72 Juno 1. I'll now have to draw up plans for these three rockets, as well as the Chrysler Building, which I plan to fly within a week or two. Further bulletins as events warrant.
6-13-04: With less than a month left in the challenge, I am proceeding steadily forward, and I think the odds are good for my completing the remaining five objectives on time. I can fly the Saturn V and Gemini-Titan II whenever I want, and I'm nearly finished with the Chrysler Building model (which rivals Apollo-LES in complexity). I'm also nearly ready to fly a high-performance rocket (likely Space Racer II) from my local park and track it from two tracking stations. After I fly these models (and one other, a Juno 1 model which I have just completed), I will merely need to to draw up the plans for the models, and then I will declare officially that I have finished the challenge, and the doors will close on the WAEC, after nearly five years of operation.
4-11-04: The Saturn V and Gemini-Titan II which I'm building for the first and second aspects of the challenge are nearly complete. I have finished and stabilized the Saturn V, and I'm nearly that far along for the Gemini-Titan II. But, I need to fly the rockets before those objectives will be complete. For the other objectives, I've so far drawn up three of the twelve planned pages for the Apollo-LES plans, and I've built another clinometer to use for complex tracking and recovery. Any work on my Chrysler Building model has been at a standstill for a good eight months now.
4-7-04: I'm hard at work on the remaining five WAEC objectives. I'm constructing the Saturn V, Gemini-Titan II, and Chrysler Building. I've drawn up a large map of my launch site to use in complex tracking and recovery. And I've drafted huge amounts of plans of most of my rockets. The only flown rocket for which I have not drafted plans is Apollo-LES, because of its complexity. I have begun drawing up plans for that rocket, but as of yet, I have not made it very far. That rocket's only flight was two years ago today. Also, as of today, I have three months left in the challenge, with five objectives yet to complete.
2-21-04: Another objective completed! I successfully completed all of the necessary requirements of the Pathfinder Advanced Rocketry Honor, and I now have the official honor patch in my possession. This objective has been underway the longest; I began work on this honor in the summer of 1998. This is the fourth objective completed; I am nearly halfway through. Of the objectives not yet accomplished, I have a good start on most of them. I have a Gemini-Titan II under construction, as well as my flying Chrysler Building. For Objective 7, I've drawn up a large map of my launch range, and the surrounding neighborhood, based on sattelite photographs. Of the nineteen original rocket designs launched by the WAEC, the only one for which I have not drawn the plans is the most complex: Apollo-LES. But I am sure even the plans for that are coming soon. Just wait. All in good time.
11-24-03:Read about my attempts to shoot my neighborhood from the air, and look at pictures of Boulder from space, which I obviously did not take.
11-18-03:I've successfully aquired in my hands a copy of an aerial photograph taken by my Astrocam 110 rocket about two years ago. So, Objective 8 is now completed. I am one-third of the way through the challenge.
10-29-03:I haven't made any significant advances, but I have posted an account of the construction and testing of the V-2 scale launch pad. It includes some photographs of the pad during and after construction.
10-24-03: At long last, I have completed another of the Nine Objectives. This involved building a functional scale launch pad for some rocket, and then launching a rocket off it, in the same scale. I chose to build a launch pad for my scale V-2 which I built three years ago. I fired the V-2 off of it twice, and the pad held up well on those two tests. So, I have yet seven objectives to accomplish. Also, check out my account of the construction and testing of the Saturn 1B model, for the first objective yet accomplished.
9-3-03: The recent advances in the challenge largely involve drafting the plans for the rockets, for Objective 9. I have since scanned these plans, and am now making them available here online. There's Arcturus Mk. 1, Space Racer II (pages 1 and 2),Discovery (pages 1,2, and 3),Brinley, and Short March.
8-27-03: I have completed building the V-2 launch pad, but I have yet to test it. I currently have it on display in the WAEC Space Museum, which itself has recieved a signifigant overhaul.
8-18-03: Work is proceeding smoothly on the Chrysler Building and the 1/68 V-2 launch pad. I am currently working on the blast deflector for the launch pad, which is a challenge unique to me. More details and photographs are pending.
8-15-03: Work has begun on the third and fourth of the challenges: namely, building a flying Chrysler Building, and a scale launch platform. The latter will serve my 1/68 V-2. I have not yet begun work on the Chrysler Building prototype itself, but I have constructed a full-scale mockup, to ascertain that all parts fit together properly. They do. It fully-assembled form, the model will stand slightly taller than an Estes Alpha III. It is modeled in approximate 1/950 scale.
8-5-03: On the thirtieth day of the challenge, I have at last accomplished one of the nine objectives: convert and fly a plastic model. This was my 1/200 Saturn 1B, mentioned earlier. The flight, on a B6-4, was not very stable, and vastly underpowered. But, I can still count the objective as being successfully finished. I may end up flying it on a C6-3 engine, but I have yet to make a final decision in this regard. One down, eight to go.
7-13-03: On the seventh day of the challenge, I have made signifigant progress in several categories. I have decided by what means I will go about constructing the first two rockets described, and I have already drawn up plans for the flying Chrysler Building model, as well as the functional launch pad. Furthermore, I have drafted the plans for Space Racer II and Arcturus Mk. I.
7-11-03: I open this page, on the fifth day of the challenge. I have made no progress whatsoever on the first four objectives. However, I have already nearly completed the fifth. I have converted a 1/200 Saturn 1B to fly on B or C engines. I merely have to touch up the paint, at the LES, and launch the thing. I have also completed all of the requirements for the sixth objective, but I have yet to earn the honor itself. As for the remaining three, I have made no progress. Thus is the summary of my exploits thus far.
willy@wilhelm-aerospace.org