BALLS 25

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Looks like that X-15 delta stalled and went in? Kurt

I wanted to see the X-15 flight too. I must have been retrieving something when that went up. What motor was that? Anyone?
 
Thanks for posting the photos Gerald. Very nice. The candid shots help capture the spirit of the launch. I think a great time was had by all.
 
I wanted to see the X-15 flight too. I must have been retrieving something when that went up. What motor was that? Anyone?
It was a CTI I216 - just a short of a J. The boost was very nice - it was really hard to watch it hit the dirt after looking so good on the way up.


Tony
 
I wanted to see the X-15 flight too. I must have been retrieving something when that went up. What motor was that? Anyone?

I talked to Dave Schafer a little this week about the X-15 delta. He confirmed it would be back.

Here is a pic he sent over of the "up".

image.jpg
 
Very nice. I wonder how many hours he had into that build?
Dave said he started it 6 weeks before BALLS. While it wasn't as large or complex as his X-2 build, he still had a lot of time and effort in it. He normally starts with much smaller models to work out the CG/CP but did not have the time this year to do that. It was really hard watching the flight and realizing it was going to crash. I was very surprised.

Dave has had many great rocket boosted flights and this was a very rare exception. I'm sure he'll figure it out and fly it again.


Tony

iPhone pic of the launch - shows off the location pretty well:
X-15-launch.jpg
 
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Pretty amazing he got that together in 6 weeks. I would have guessed 6+ months.
 
Too bad there wasn't room for an "emergency" ballistic chute to save the day. Very nice work on a concept for the X-15 that wasn't developed. Only one person left with us who flew a "real" one 14 flights. Joe Engle. In fact he's the only pilot who's
flown both aerospaceplanes that the US government had. The X-15 and the Space Shuttle. Kurt
 
The Balls 25 Issue of ROCKETS Magazine is available for FREE at rocketsmagazine.com

Remember to click on the photos, including the cover to see the videos.....
 
The small roads are erased but usually the well used ones remain.
The water is not across the whole playa, in the early 90's there were puddles and we just stayed away from them. The wind will blow them around.
Also big muddy areas and one year had a motor home stuck , plus the vehicles who tried to rescue them.
 
Black Rock about 8 years ago..in June? About a mile wide and 5 mile long lake.

IMG_1204.jpg


IMG_1203.jpg


Tony
 
Hard to say but my memory says it was about 2 - 3 miles in back of that. Aeropac launch sites were S - SW of BALLS. It was around the 06 area I think. I remember waking up to find that the lake had moved within a few hundred yards of the launch. 07 Aeropac "Mudroc" launch was renamed "Dustroc" I remember well as it prompted me to buy a trailer before going to LDRS 26 in Jean, NV.
Great pic of Richard Hagen pulling a muddy recovery. Richard_Small.jpg
 
I took this picture of a stuck truck, he tried to pull Rikki Rockett's RV.
It is now immortalized on the BLM sign at the playa entrance.


stucktruckS.jpg



Stuck RV, bad day at Black Rock.

rrstuck%20copy.jpg
 
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Photo from today...

BR water.jpg

anyone want to join The Black Rock Yacht Club? I'm taking applications now.

Tony
 
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