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-   -   July 4th Quick Trip to the NTMLF (http://www.oldrocketforum.com/showthread.php?t=16711)

Newbomb Turk 07-04-2017 08:05 PM

July 4th Quick Trip to the NTMLF
 
Even though it was literally hotter than the surface of the sun times infinity (my car was registering 101 when I left the house), I decided on a quick trip to the Newbomb Turk Memorial Launching Facility. You get there by driving right through the nice hibiscus. I took three with me but only got one in the air as the batteries in my launcher died. I got in a first launch of my Semroc Centaur.
Even though I enjoy staging I'd never tried Centuri's patented "pop-and-go" system, so I was really curious to see how it would work.
B6-0 to B6-6 and it flew perfectly. Good altitude and a long tumble of the sustainer with the 6 second delay and an extra long shock cord. The booster landed about ten feet from the pad. Great flight.

A Fish Named Wallyum 07-05-2017 12:20 AM

My first Centaur launch would be its one and only flight. The booster landed in the ONLY puddle on the field at VOA that day. If I sat in it I'd have barely gotten my pants wet, but the **** booster found it. Swelled things enough that no amount of sanding would ever allow me to feel comfortable about trying to stage it again. Great flight, though. :(

Blastfromthepast 07-07-2017 05:58 AM

Good times! Happy to see that someone else got a chance to do a little rocket flying on the 4th. Pesky batteries, anyway.

naslrogues 07-08-2017 06:54 PM

Through the nice Hibiscus? I thought that was re-landscaped for the Newbomb Turk Memorial Library?

A Fish Named Wallyum 07-10-2017 12:48 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by naslrogues
Through the nice Hibiscus? I thought that was re-landscaped for the Newbomb Turk Memorial Library?

:chuckle: :chuckle:

jeffyjeep 07-10-2017 03:19 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by A Fish Named Wallyum
My first Centaur launch would be its one and only flight. The booster landed in the ONLY puddle on the field at VOA that day. If I sat in it I'd have barely gotten my pants wet, but the **** booster found it. Swelled things enough that no amount of sanding would ever allow me to feel comfortable about trying to stage it again. Great flight, though. :(


I feel your pain. In the 80's when I was flying every weekend in the summer, water features were the bane of my exsistance. SV's, Atlases, MR's, etc,--all drowned. Arguably the worst loss was possibly the AstroCam 110 with 21 exposures on the cartridge: came down in a tiny, tiny pond at the edge of a 20 acre field.

If I'd launched a rocket in the Sahara it would have somehow come down in water.

tbzep 07-10-2017 05:00 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffyjeep
Arguably the worst loss was possibly the AstroCam 110 with 21 exposures on the cartridge: came down in a tiny, tiny pond at the edge of a 20 acre field.

You proved dark matter!



.

Joe Wooten 07-11-2017 05:39 AM

Quote:
Originally Posted by jeffyjeep
I feel your pain. In the 80's when I was flying every weekend in the summer, water features were the bane of my exsistance. SV's, Atlases, MR's, etc,--all drowned. Arguably the worst loss was possibly the AstroCam 110 with 21 exposures on the cartridge: came down in a tiny, tiny pond at the edge of a 20 acre field.

If I'd launched a rocket in the Sahara it would have somehow come down in water.


What's worse than that is an Astrocam with only one exposure left hanging from a 138kV transmission line. That happened to me in 1988. I was launching from over 2 miles away, but the wind direction changed as it was coming down. That thing taunted me for several weeks before it final fell off.

Newbomb Turk 07-12-2017 08:39 PM

I've never lost one to water, but more than my fair share have found trees.
And they're bulldozing the gardens tomorrow, so drive right over them.

LeeR 07-13-2017 10:38 AM

1 Attachment(s)
Our group used to launch at a site with a narrow asphalt road running thru the middle of it. We set up on the road since we always used someone's car to power the launcher. Most people's flights landed in soft dirt. I had the unique talent of landing on the road quite often, requiring constant repairs. I can tell you, though, an Aerotech Initiator flies just fine with the fins sawed off even with the end of the tube.


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