3/4 Mercury Redstone

What a fantastic accomplishment..
Good for you Geoff and all behind him..
Wow,, there are no words..
How did you even transport something that big..

Well done just pales..

Teddy

Lift off photo courtesy of Rockets Magazine.

Thanks go out to everyone who made this launch successful and most importantly, safe!

I've got video uploading to youtube right now: Search "Mercury Redstone 3/4 Scale World Record"

burkefj said:

I could see the liftoff and hear cheering, no full distance flight video yet that I found, but sounded good Looks like the wind was blowing pretty good.

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Interesting, that looked like a pretty nominal low speed ejection, but the panel failed on the fin can, maybe it caught on the tube section, was hard to tell, didn't look like a lot of stress on the deployment. That looked like about 3000' or so...

Frank

Wonder why/how the one panel failed on the parachute on the fin can? The deployment at least in the video seemed to be a low stress affair. Thoughts? Kurt

Egads, Frank and I think alike! (Look at the posting times.) That might be scary!:wink::grin: Kurt

Does the issue with the panel mean this was a failed level 5 certification?

Seriously.....congratulations! What an incredible project. It’s inspirational to all of us.

The shroud line snapped on the chute right about where all 4 are sewn together . Not sure if it was hit by heat , but every part was clear of the booster and it did not catch a fin when the chute started to open and it appeared to be about 75 percent inflated when it popped the line.

Eric

3stoogesrocketry said:

The shroud line snapped on the chute right about where all 4 are sewn together . Not sure if it was hit by heat , but every part was clear of the booster and it did not catch a fin when the chute started to open and it appeared to be about 75 percent inflated when it popped the line.

Eric

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In that case, I vote for Feckless Counsel to pass his Level 5 cert flight.

If Mr. Feckless wants to chime in and talk about the condition of the rocket after landing, I will not steal his thunder. Anyone who really, really wants to know can PM me.

A zoom in on the video can tell part of the story though. Kurt

Interesting, what chutes were those? I know there was some popping of the core tube when it landed and the fin can, actually I'm not bummed or surprised at some landing damage, it was built to fly and fly it did. It's tough to build very light and not get some landing issue even with large chutes. I think it was a smartly designed well executed project.

TRF,

Altitude was 2650 feet. Booster is pretty much destroyed. Motor appears OK. Other sections have varying degrees of damage. I would say the rocket is totaled. Will compile a final report with detailed photos soon as possible. Please find team flight video here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5901d8u176ryrz6/Rocket.mp4?dl=0

Feckless Counsel said:

TRF,

Altitude was 2650 feet. Booster is pretty much destroyed. Motor appears OK. Other sections have varying degrees of damage. I would say the rocket is totaled. Will compile a final report with detailed photos soon as possible. Please find team flight video here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5901d8u176ryrz6/Rocket.mp4?dl=0

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That is too bad, but it went out in a spectacular blaze of glory.

Great video, now all it needs is some dramatic music.

[video=youtube;qdmBYtcjMc0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdmBYtcjMc0[/video]

Feckless Counsel said:

TRF,

Altitude was 2650 feet. Booster is pretty much destroyed. Motor appears OK. Other sections have varying degrees of damage. I would say the rocket is totaled. Will compile a final report with detailed photos soon as possible. Please find team flight video here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5901d8u176ryrz6/Rocket.mp4?dl=0

Click to expand...

I love the perspective of the video, it looks like everyone is closer than they likely are. I noticed that some of the access panels that were on the air-frame were blowing off during the ascent but it reminded me of when the ice gets blown off the cryogenic tank areas, which gives it even more authenticity.

I would not feel bad at all, i was designed for flight, it flew well, and got damaged on landing, but getting it to all work as designed including an experimental motor is an achievement you should be proud of. It's not like chutes did not open etc.

Feckless Counsel said:

TRF,

Altitude was 2650 feet. Booster is pretty much destroyed. Motor appears OK. Other sections have varying degrees of damage. I would say the rocket is totaled. Will compile a final report with detailed photos soon as possible. Please find team flight video here:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5901d8u176ryrz6/Rocket.mp4?dl=0

Click to expand...

Still - a fantastic flight and a great effort by the entire team

Thanks for dreaming this up
Thanks for all the time and effort by the entire team
Thanks for sharing this event with everyone

It was well worth the trip to witness.

You've come a long way since that RW X-Celerator............

mpitfield said:

I love the perspective of the video, it looks like everyone is closer than they likely are. I noticed that some of the access panels that were on the air-frame were blowing off during the ascent but it reminded me of when the ice gets blown off the cryogenic tank areas, which gives it even more authenticity.

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By golly you're right Michael. I was going to make a pseudo-snide comment about you sneezing too much on your computer monitor but a closer look by Stupidhead here confirms it. Oh well, bigger chutes might'a helped but heck it was neat to
see the "official" video. Really nice to see a "built up" project fly like it did. Kurt

You've done something a lot of us only dream about, and I'd say you nailed it! Massive rocket, unique construction to meet the specs required to make it work, beautiful end result and a nice boost! I enjoyed following this thread and thank you for sharing it!

Awesome - well done to everyone involved!

I would be very proud of that - looks like everything worked great. The booster shroud line looks like it was cut by the booster fin as the chute pulled out of the cannon.
Great flight and video - thanks for sharing the ride with all of us and inspiring big projects.!


Sent from my iPhone using Rocketry Forum

Onebadhawk said:

What a fantastic accomplishment..
Good for you Geoff and all behind him..
Wow,, there are no words..
How did you even transport something that big..

Well done just pales..

Teddy

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Teddy,

See post #382 for transport.

I don't know how many pictures and/or video were taken during the build, but this project would really benefit from a long-form video showing the course of the entire build and flight. I'd watch it at least twice.

Scott S said:

View attachment 342378



Lift off photo courtesy of Rockets Magazine.

Thanks go out to everyone who made this launch successful and most importantly, safe!

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I started following this project not too long after you began posting/postulating about the it here, but I lost track of it due to work/travel and other commitments. Came across it again today and went back through the thread and got to watch the launch video. The only thing I can say is, "You sir (and team), are a steely-eyed missile man!"