Vern and Steve's Saturn 1B launches......

[MaxQ]

Ok guys, let's hear those eyewitness reports.

Apparently Vern's went in after it seperated on the way up.....

[chadrog]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlt3DW0ioQ

[darrenf]

Here is Vern's.

[MaxQ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAlt3DW0ioQ

"Obviously a major malfunction.
We have no downlink."

[Pantherjon]

And Steve's 1B??

[darrenf]

And Steve's 1B??

I'm wondering that myself. We left at 2:00 when it was announced that Steve was having some technical issues and it would be another 2 hours before launch.

[Rocketjunkie]

"Obviously a major malfunction.
We have no downlink."

Looked like a shred. Something came off and that's all it takes

[cwbullet]

I hope it worked out.

[Agent Titan]

I have to say, it happened to look a little like the Challenger explosion. Both very tragic. Of course, the Challenger being more more important (and expensive).

[DAllen]

And Steve's 1B??

Just found this on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09mZkMZtjwI

[Rocketman248]

Steve's launched as well. There was a delay due to some technical issues. His pop-out second stage fins decided to pop out as they were arming the electronics. After a few hours, they got everything reset and they pushed the button. It didn't stage, and the escape tower and the capsule came down on their own, but Steve called it a great success. I'll have my pics uploaded soon.

[cornyl]

"Obviously a major malfunction.

I think NASA calls it a contingency.
As in "We have had a contingency"

Hate to see pictures like that!

Cornyl

[stantonjtroy]

Verns did not suffer a shread. About 2/3 through to boost (downhill side of the power curve) he suffered drag seperation of the upper S4B airframe (no shearpins). Neil had some accurate stills and the cause was evident. Surface detail was OMG awsome! Gotta give it to Vern, His attitude toward the whole thing was the stuff of legend. Can't wait to see the rebuild. Looked incredible comming off the pad. Despite the ending it was an inspiring flight.

[GregGleason]

"Obviously a major malfunction.
We have no downlink."

I think NASA calls it a contingency.
As in "We have had a contingency"

Hate to see pictures like that!

Cornyl

MaxQ was quoting the solemn words uttered by NASA after Challenger exploded.

See 2:19.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfnvFnzs91s

[Syclone]

Here's video of both flights.

Steve's flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=woqigxaHa3Y

Vern's flight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQofOOwYwMw

It was sad to see Vern's rocket end up like that. It was a real work of art.

-Justin

[Agent Titan]

On further inspection that looks almost exactly like the Challenger!

[Rocketman248]

My pictures have been uploaded. I didn't get any pictures of the aftermath of Vern's, I just couldn't bring myself to take any pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7860480...7626520851768/

[MaxQ]

My pictures have been uploaded. I didn't get any pictures of the aftermath of Vern's, I just couldn't bring myself to take any pics.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7860480...7626520851768/

Nice pictures!
Did Steve get the CMS and LES back ok?

Too bad about Vern's...exquisite detail on that buid.

How big was the debris field?
Cases and electronics recovered? Enough airframe left to rebuild?

[Rocketman248]

The LES came in ballistic and augered in pretty good, but it looked to be in good shape. The CMS didn't look like it hit that hard, but I didn't get a good look at it.

With Vern's, the main pieces landed within 20yds of each other. The booster section was pretty well toast, and will have to be replaced completely. A few of the cases were dented and scratched. The section just aft of the transition was in very good shape, with just a few dings. The transition section had a fair amount of damage, but will be repairable.

[ben_ullman]

Verns: His rocket drag seperated. One motor didnt come up to pressure till it was 3/4 the way up the rail. Vern also used a combination of fast and white propellant so the fast might have shut down (or began to) hard enough to seperate it since it was moving so slow.

Steve: When steve cut the wire to arm his timer, it began timing. Luckily it was a 6 second delay. As he took one step off the trailer pad the fins popped out. 3 out of 4 fins popped. one caught on the rail. he said if all 4 would have opened the motor would have lit! Luckily it did not. He reset everything and we packed it all together. It took almost 2 hours to the minute. This time he tied the pull wire and arm wire to the pad. His altitude was almost 3k feet. Even though the second stage didnt light it was still a success. The reason being, he had his tilt-o-meter set to 20 degrees or more and there was no fire. The rocket was at 27 degrees when it was ready to fire, so it didnt. PERFECT! His rocket sustained very minimal damage. A couple details and the capsule and tower broke in half. All he needs to do is a little FG/bondo work and screw the tower back on.

All in all it was a good day. I am very sorry to see Verns dissapear. Here is my take, Verns was a detail masterpiece and was the best scale HPR rocket I have ever seen, Steves was the most engineered I have ever seen and very cool to help with.

Ben

[GregGleason]

Just found this on YouTube:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09mZkMZtjwI

Wow! That was amazing.

Would have looked like the real thing with a scale launch gantry.

Greg

[rocketsaway]

The reason being, he had his tilt-o-meter set to 20 degrees or more and there was no fire. The rocket was at 27 degrees when it was ready to fire, so it didnt.
Ben

From some of the vids posted, it seemed both had some fair weathercocking. True? Reason for the 27 degs, perhaps? A calmer day would prove more successful?

[Rocketman248]

It seemed that when the separation occurred, the sustainer immediately pitched over violently. It may have caught on something, or perhaps the pop-out fins didn't open quickly enough.

[ben_ullman]

From some of the vids posted, it seemed both had some fair weathercocking. True? Reason for the 27 degs, perhaps? A calmer day would prove more successful?

Oh deffinitally. Unlike the saturn this pad didnt budge an inch. Both were well anchored. Steves hauled @ss but it was still pretty windy. You can see the thing has some spin or coning to it in the video.

Ben

[RoyAtl]

Did he pop out the fins before or after separation? If before, the upper fins could have caused the rocket to go unstable and start to tumble. That's what it looked like to me from one of the videos. But that's from a poor vantage point, sitting in front of my computer.

[swierczekml]

Both flights in one video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhWxKKrjrTE

Vern's was definitely very Challenger-esque...

[rocketsaway]

To both Vern and Steve, thanks for sharing your dream.

"...not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills..."
(John F Kennedy 1961, We choose to go to the moon speech.)

[ben_ullman]

To both Vern and Steve, thanks for sharing your dream.

"...not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills..."
(John F Kennedy 1961, We choose to go to the moon speech.)

Is it sad that im getting used to flying 800-100Lb projects?

It takes a hell of alot to pull of something like that. I am glad to even be a part of it and volunteer. It was one of the best days ive had in a while!

Ben

[THier]

I was down range, (at the road) with Kevin, from a half mile away it was impressive, I have a still of Verns at 90 deg and still burning,

The capsule and escape tower are ok, (the escape tower broke of while dragging across the field, and one of the escape motor nozzles were lost) but otherwise are ok. Verns was defiantly a master piece, I don't know if I would have had the balls to fly those in the winds we had Sunday. I would have rather missed the launch and see vids from LDRS than to see the destrucion of Verns bird.

GREAT show Vern and Steve, Thanks for letting MDRA host the launches.

Tom

[ben_ullman]

I was down range, (at the road) with Kevin, from a half mile away it was impressive, I have a still of Verns at 90 deg and still burning,

The capsule and escape tower are ok, (the escape tower broke of while dragging across the field, and one of the escape motor nozzles were lost) but otherwise are ok. Verns was defiantly a master piece, I don't know if I would have had the balls to fly those in the winds we had Sunday. I would have rather missed the launch and see vids from LDRS than to see the destrucion of Verns bird.

GREAT show Vern and Steve, Thanks for letting MDRA host the launches.

Tom

His tower actually came apart in the air and the top tower came in like and arrow and burried itself and then the capsule just tumbled on down.

Ben