April 1 2000 Launch Report

Today we launched Sarah's Fat Boy, Kim's Maniac, my Sam-X booster rocket and my Flying Jenny.  Bad news first.

I built the Flying Jenny from minimalistic free plans that were published in an Estes newsletter in 1964.


Jenny looked great on the pad

Jenny's maiden flight wasn't pretty! She flew about 50 feet up (A6-3 engine), then looped over toward the ground. She hit the ground under power, ejecting the engine after landing. All her wings came off from the impact. Back to the drawing board.... 


I just got a new book by Tim Van Milligan on rocket design. I think I'll better read the chapter on rocket gliders and start with a kit!

Sarah's Fat Boy on the pad:

Successful recovery


Kim's Maniac on the pad.  She built this partly because she liked the rocket's name!

We caught the liftoff of this cool rocket on a D12-3 engine.


Finally, I launched my Custom Rockets Sam-X two stage rocket.  Here's what it's supposed to look like:

I have a picture of it on my bench (Sam-X on left, Jenny in front, unpainted Silver Comet in back, Sputnik to the right and Space Shuttle to the far right)

but this is the only other fuzzy picture I have of it.

Lost in space! I launched the Sam-X with a C6-0/C6-7 combination, it took off at an angle and flew to at least a 1000 feet. We saw the tracking dye when the nose cone ejected, but never saw the parachute. We recovered the booster, but not the main stage. 

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