Soyuz build from Cosmodrome Vostok

Some nice flight pictures thanks to Dave Lindbergh.

The last three images showed something about this flight I had not previously known:

The motor "backup ejection" actually separated the rocket as it approached apogee. The electronic apogee ejection charge was fired by the Raven just after separation, as can be clearly seen in the last picture.

As the whole flight was low (709ft) and slow (109mph), and the two ejection events were within a second of each other, recovery still executed cleanly.

The one point of very slight damage to the rocket was the escape tower.

During recovery, it was supposed to drop out of the nose section of the rocket and hang from a thin Kevlar line, but it remained in place and speared the soft ground on touchdown.

This will be easily fixed.

Sweet flight I love the action shots.


TA

Awesome pictures and video. Great Job! That is some Big Time Soyuz action!

Completely.


Awesome.


Video!

Video and pictures were righteous!!! The ignition looked like it was on a real rocket, like the video and photos you see of the saturns. Amazing!

Spectacular. Amazing! Really really amazing. Well done!!!
:w::w::w::handshake:

Here is another F30 flame but from the vantage point I had it did not look crooked.
https://www.rocketryforum.com/showthread.php?52923-Personal-Launch-Report-2013-04-20-What-a-difference-a-week-makes&p=520779#post520779

Your cluster builds & flights are an inspiration to us all, Boris. Especially cluster junkies like me

dpower said:

Your cluster builds & flights are an inspiration to us all, Boris. Especially cluster junkies like me

Click to expand...

That`s makes two of us !

Always great to watch you work Boris and the video is spectacular and the still shots are beautiful.....love those.

MAN ,I really do need to dig my Vostok out of the pile !!

Take care


Paul t

Glued together the split in the escape tower.

Then sanded and painted the area.

Soyuz is ready for flight....

Next Saturday, 10/19/13, the Soyuz will fly again at the CMASS launch in Amesbury, MA.

Motors will be:

16x Estes D12 and 1x Pro-X G54 Red Longburn (29mm 3grain).

16x 17Ns + 1x 159Ns = 431 Ns cluster total, with a nice long 3 second burn on the Red and plenty of fire and smoke...

At about 3pm Soyuz went up for its 3rd flight at the 10/19/13 CMASS Amesbury, MA launch.

This time it was the USSR representative in the

USA vs. USSR Drag Race

The Soyuz lifted off straight and fast on the planned 17x motor I impulse cluster: 1x Pro-X G54 + 16x Estes D12 firing all motors and deploying both chutes.

Launched at the same time as the Saturn V on a 5x motor J impulse cluster.

The two dueling columns of fire and smoke were a lot of fun.

The Soyuz was faster off the pad, as all its motors have a thrust spike in the first 1/4 second, whereas the Saturn achieved greater altitude with its greater total impulse (Soyuz 784ft vs. Saturn V 1008ft).

The Saturn V is a modified version of the Sirius Rocketry kit, and the Soyuz is a modified version of Cosmodrome's Vostok. Both gorgeous kits that are challenging builds.

The Soyuz chutes deployed cleanly with its usual 1g ejection charge, with a 2+g motor backup ejection 2-3 seconds after predicted apogee.

Another great recovery on two Top Flight Recovery 45" chutes.

Thanks to Alan for suggesting the drag race idea and assisting greatly with field support, as well as Alex and Jim for all your help on the field.

Flight video will be posted soon.

First picture shows igniter setup at the Soyuz: black lines from cluster box, orange lines carrying power to Saturn V, and yellow Rocketflite igniters.

More info in Saturn V link in previous post, on Rocketflite website, and on website in my signature.

Pics 2 and 3 from original build to illustrate following description.

Unfortunately, the Kevlar string connecting the escape tower to the nose cone broke during recovery, so the escape tower was lost. I, Alan, Alex and Jim all searched the field at length, but no luck. Will build another if it does not turn up in the next few weeks.

The two main sections of the Soyuz are still in great shape, and could easily be flown again, with or without the pretty little escape tower.

The idea with the escape tower dropping out of the NC during recovery is to protect it (and anyone under NC during recovery) from damage on touchdown. Worked perfectly on the first flight, did not drop out of NC on second flight and had some damage when it speared the soft ground, and was lost on the third flight.

May need a different approach going forward. Options:
> same setup
> no escape tower during flight
> streamer on escape tower
> Make escape tower from paper/cardboard and plan to replace after each launch
> rebuild it light and launch it with micro max engines when rocket lifts off

:clap::clap:

Wow. Great work, and excellent execution.

Thank you for sharing.

Drag race pictures look fantastic! It must have been a fun day! It looks to me like the Saturn V was launched without an escape tower. I tried a similar method for the escape tower on my Estes Atlas/Mercury as the Soyuz and it did not work. I probably got the idea for the escape tower from this thread.

delta22 said:

rebuild it light and launch it with micro max engines when rocket lifts off

Click to expand...

Love to see this option