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So when opportunity came out with very short deadline, I figured as long as I could put something together, would be fine. Who would be able to put together a work of art in such a short time span. So my rockets were duct tape and electrical tape and glue. Little did I know (at the start) the masters would come in on this one.
Anyway, I thought of a cartoon that sort of expresses my view of things when I enter the same arena as some of the more hallowed members of the forum.
The rockets in order are from JumpJet (Saturn 1B), HCMBanjo (Speed Reader), and BABAR (Triceratops---- note to self, may be better NOT to name rockets after extinct animals.)
View attachment 261432
Here is the flight report, it was sent to John but copied to me:
First off, the rocket arrived in great shape. And as good as the pictures are of it that you sent, they just don't do that rocket justice. Everyone who saw it was really impressed. (Interestingly, there were several people that we met who had build the Saturn 1B kit many years ago.) But they had never seen anything like this. And it was really nice to be able to tell them about all the details.
The Earth Day Kick-Off at Space Center Houston was great. Pretty much all the Earth Day attendees stopped to look at the textbook Saturn 1B. It was a great choice, as many of the people we talked to had just been on the tour and seen the real thing.
As we got closer to the 3:00 launch, the weather was cooperating. However, we all started thinking the same thing: let's not launch the textbook Saturn 1B today. We huddled and decided to create a special display for it at Space Center Houston and let more people see it and appreciate the ingenuity and craftsmanship of it first. We're also talking about the possibility that the rocket could travel around the country to visit other NASA galleries, which would be great. (The display will include a credit to you and a bio blurb about you.) We want it to inspire people. We'll create another event down the road to launch it.
On Friday night, a local photographer, who was blown away by it, offered to take some photos of it in his studio. So, we did a photo shoot with it. We got some great shots of it. I'll share those with you as soon as I get them. (It's a favor from the photographer, so we'll have to work around his schedule.)
We ended up launching 5 rockets on Saturday. Two smaller pin-wheel rockets by Art Applewhite that were made out of soft cover textbook covers. Good spinners!
We then launch both of Tom's rockets that he'd posted-- Triceratops a big, heavy rocket made entirely from textbook hardcovers. That one is a cluster rocket with three engines. That thing shot straight up maybe 50 feet and then nosed over and flew horizontally out of sight over some trees. Pretty exciting. It was recovered!
Tom's Katana was a pretty good flier pretty much straight up. Came down in a tree, but we recovered it! I got some good slow-mo of that one I'll share once I can edit my footage.
Then we few Chris Speed Reader. That's the one you asked about on the board. Here's a picture of it.
[pic of Chris' rocket here]
It's all made from textbooks, except a support dowel in the nose cone, the shock cord, and the parachute. This one had some good lift and shot up a good distance. I thought we'd lost it but they were able to recover it!
I'll have more launch specifics from the notes of our experts on engine sizes and flight details. Warren Benson from NASA Houston Rocket Club and Dave Brown from Space Center Houston prepped and launched all the rockets.
I want to thank you again for building, and in such short time, an amazing textbook rocket. I'm sure you're like us, curious about how it would have launched, but we'll hold off on that for now and let more people appreciate it. Maybe even let them guess how high!
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Craig
Anyway, I thought of a cartoon that sort of expresses my view of things when I enter the same arena as some of the more hallowed members of the forum.
The rockets in order are from JumpJet (Saturn 1B), HCMBanjo (Speed Reader), and BABAR (Triceratops---- note to self, may be better NOT to name rockets after extinct animals.)
View attachment 261432
Here is the flight report, it was sent to John but copied to me:
First off, the rocket arrived in great shape. And as good as the pictures are of it that you sent, they just don't do that rocket justice. Everyone who saw it was really impressed. (Interestingly, there were several people that we met who had build the Saturn 1B kit many years ago.) But they had never seen anything like this. And it was really nice to be able to tell them about all the details.
The Earth Day Kick-Off at Space Center Houston was great. Pretty much all the Earth Day attendees stopped to look at the textbook Saturn 1B. It was a great choice, as many of the people we talked to had just been on the tour and seen the real thing.
As we got closer to the 3:00 launch, the weather was cooperating. However, we all started thinking the same thing: let's not launch the textbook Saturn 1B today. We huddled and decided to create a special display for it at Space Center Houston and let more people see it and appreciate the ingenuity and craftsmanship of it first. We're also talking about the possibility that the rocket could travel around the country to visit other NASA galleries, which would be great. (The display will include a credit to you and a bio blurb about you.) We want it to inspire people. We'll create another event down the road to launch it.
On Friday night, a local photographer, who was blown away by it, offered to take some photos of it in his studio. So, we did a photo shoot with it. We got some great shots of it. I'll share those with you as soon as I get them. (It's a favor from the photographer, so we'll have to work around his schedule.)
We ended up launching 5 rockets on Saturday. Two smaller pin-wheel rockets by Art Applewhite that were made out of soft cover textbook covers. Good spinners!
We then launch both of Tom's rockets that he'd posted-- Triceratops a big, heavy rocket made entirely from textbook hardcovers. That one is a cluster rocket with three engines. That thing shot straight up maybe 50 feet and then nosed over and flew horizontally out of sight over some trees. Pretty exciting. It was recovered!
Tom's Katana was a pretty good flier pretty much straight up. Came down in a tree, but we recovered it! I got some good slow-mo of that one I'll share once I can edit my footage.
Then we few Chris Speed Reader. That's the one you asked about on the board. Here's a picture of it.
[pic of Chris' rocket here]
It's all made from textbooks, except a support dowel in the nose cone, the shock cord, and the parachute. This one had some good lift and shot up a good distance. I thought we'd lost it but they were able to recover it!
I'll have more launch specifics from the notes of our experts on engine sizes and flight details. Warren Benson from NASA Houston Rocket Club and Dave Brown from Space Center Houston prepped and launched all the rockets.
I want to thank you again for building, and in such short time, an amazing textbook rocket. I'm sure you're like us, curious about how it would have launched, but we'll hold off on that for now and let more people appreciate it. Maybe even let them guess how high!
Please let me know if you have any other questions.
Thank you,
Craig
