Randy,

I fly gap staged rockets more than almost anyone else I know. Simultaneously igniting 5 clustered gap-staged motors is a truly spectacular accomplishment! I've seen lots of multi-staged Saturn V's fly, but they all used electronics. Honestly, it never occurred to me that "going native" was possible.

I remember reading about Verna's Saturn a long time ago, long before I started gap-staging, so I wouldn't have truly understood how amazing it was.

I'm particularly intrigued that she got the D12 and C6's to work in harmony. The C6s actually burn slightly longer than the D12 so I would have thought the central motor in the second stage would have lit before the outboards. I also would have thought the likelihood of 1st and second stage torquing and preventing separation would have been really great.

Can you tell us what the failure modes were on the first two flights?

Again, thanks for sharing this. You just really expanded my envelope of what is possible.

I love this hobby.

Steve