Category: Blog Posts

I recently found some items from the past.  I still had the parking pass from my sister and Brother in-law that was working at Patrick Air Force base back then.  The day before shuttle launch of STS-51 I had just graduated from my MOS school in Virginia.  I drove for 12 hours non stop until I made it to my sisters house at Merit Island to attend the launch.

STS 51 pass Kennedy Space Center Rules

The liftoff was picture perfect and the shuttle really moves fast up to its destination.

The day of launching was really terrific, minus a little rain off and on, all went well. We had two additional families attend and launch rockets. Two of the new members were Ian Trousdell and Scott Trousdell.  I provided them with the Jolly Logic Altimeter 3 to add to their rockets so they could see how neat and interesting it is to utilize for rocket data:

Man-made objects designed to explore the universe are now challenges for modern spaceflight.

http://wapo.st/2pCA6qO

 

https://www.rocketreviews.com/films-and-tv-shows-featuring-hobby-rockets.html

 

I thought I would share this interesting link on real space activities:

http://www.thespacereview.com/index.html

 

Today on April 12th 1961 Yuri Gagarin made history:

https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/sts1/gagarin_anniversary.html

 

Today the weather was spotty but we were able to have some great launches:

I have been curious about model rocket piston launchers and found a few things that explain it quite well.

this video from Apogee is quite helpful

 

Standard and Floating piston option

Piston launcher set up

The Maxi Icarus Rocket was a two stage rocket.  It was boosted with an Estes D12-0 to a C11-7.  The Booster failed but was still able to ignite the upper stage to a successful liftoff and safe landing. The booster section was repaired and ready for another launch.

Here is a slow motion video clip:

Well Saturday was the only good day of the weekend for rocket launching.  There were three contestants for the Section meet contest. Each one had one good flight and another one that was not as good.  None the less it was fun and everyone knows how to do better the next time.  All flights returned safely.

Daniel Peirce had one good flight with his boost glide rocket.  It achieved a time of 46 seconds on his second flight.  Xander had one great boost glide flight with his boost glider that achieved 24 seconds on the first flight. I had one good flight with my boost glider of 31 seconds on the first flight.  I was hoping for another great boost on the second flight, but that did not occur.

Daniel achieved first place in the boost Glider event.  Xander achieved 1^st in the B division.

The Helicopter recovery was a more challenging event.  Daniel Peirce entered the Rose-A-Roc helicopter recovery rocket and had mixed results.  I entered in a kit that I had built from a company called CMR (Competition Model Rockets) that was famous for a few of its boost gliders in the 80s.

There will be more events and I hope more will come out to attend.

Here are the overall results of the Saturday Contest:

B Division:  1^st Place Xander Thompson with 72 points

C Division: 1^st John Thompson with 308 points

2^nd Daniel Peirce with 300 points