What was the first rocket you ever launched?

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The first rocket I (constructed and) launched was an Estes X-Ray.
The first rocket I built was in 8th Grade Shop. Fabricated all parts except for the motor mount and motor. I missed the "launch session" which took place over a weekend, so this rocket hung from my bedroom ceiling for a couple years.
 
Estes Astron Alpha - with BALSA nose cone, and fins I had to cut out myself from balsa sheets, no fancy laser cutting.
I painted it yellow, and did a HORRIBLE job of painting.... hey... I was 10 years old!

Not sure exactly what year, but it would have been 5th Grade so about '67 or '68.

There was a contest to see who's rocket would go the highest. However my teacher felt sorry for my rocket and it's horrible paint job, and put a C engine in mine instead of the standard A he put in everyone elses rocket. My rocket was never seen again :(
 
Probably an Astron Scout I "procured" from my older brother when he wasnt paying attention..... But I thought it had a clear mylar body tube.....
Around summer of '76. I think a Drifter was the first kit i bought, mowed lawns for a weekly trip to the local "House of Hobbies"
Surviving rockets from my first foray into building and flying include a Sprint, Mean Machine, Space Shuttle, Missle Toe, Zoom Broom, Astrocam.
I have never built any of the Alpha models ever....
 
In 1980 this was my first rocket so far it keeps flying and I have only have had to fix a fin and replace a lost nose cone. Some day I might strip it down and repaint it.

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Aerobee 300. Way too complicated for a first build, so I left the balsa fairings off the launch lug, and I am pretty sure I did not add the fin tabs. It was 1963, and so no local hobby stores carried rockets. Mail ordered everything from Estes Industries. I still remember my mom answering the door in the morning to get the long skinny box from the mailman. Those were exciting times, awaiting the box of goodies from Penrose Colorado (aka "Model Rocket Capital of the World") ...

The paint job was horrid. Fin grain under the paint stood out like mini canyons! Body tube was some metallic blue, it was bottled paint. Payload section was copper color, and nose cone was a dark reddish-purple color (some fingernail polish I found in the medicine cabinet!). Butt ugly!

I do not remember what happened to that rocket, but my oldest rocket is an Estes Saros I bought right after graduating from college in 1975. I worked at the Naval Weapons Center in China Lake, California, and there was a hobby store on base. The Mojave Desert is a strange place to live (especially right after getting married and moving from Boulder!). But it was a great place to launch rockets.
 
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Bob (Initiator001) is right, the California fireworks laws were strict.
We could get Estes and Centuri kits by mail but no engines.
The engines were mailed illegally through the Johnson Smith catalog (remember "Ventrillo" on the comic book inside covers?)

Back in 1972 or 73, I used to buy Estes engines from a local hobby shop, called Jacquie's. Jacquie was a mean, bitter old woman, but she sold rockets! I never heard about any fireworks laws.
 
My first rocket was the venerable Estes Alpha III, back in 72 or 73. I remember choosing it because of the plastic fin can. It looked easier than attaching balsa fins. My buddy Tim chose the Estes Sky Hook. We launched them both at the elementary school across the street on A8-3's. I was hooked!

The Alpha III holds a special place in my heart. So much so that I've built a 4" upscale, put Alpha III decals on a Super Alpha, and built a two stage Alpha III Goony.
 

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My first launch was an Astron Spaceman, in Charlotte NC, early 1968. My buddy and I had tried repeatedly to get the Electro-Launch to work: changing batteries, fiddling with different igniters, different motors, etc. Only after I gave up on the Scout and tried the Spaceman instead, could I get the wretched launcher to work.

Perhaps that contributed to my later fascination with oddrocs and alternate forms of stabilization.
 
My first black powder powered model rocket was the Estes Star Trek rocket purchased from the Johnson Smith Company.

First flight was with a B6-4, then twice with a A8-3. At the time I wondered why later flights didn't fly as high as the first flight only to realize later on that there are different types of engines.

This all took place in Quebec, Canada in 1976.

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Centuri Payloader II.
I think.
I remember I had the Centuri launch kit in the light green box. Nice sturdy wooden legs, and a cool little handheld launch controller with a key/pin. Hooked it to a car battery. Used nichrome wire for igniters. Really worked well. As I recall you had to make a loop in the wire by wrapping it around the tip of a pen, then a tiny bit of cotton wadding to hold it in the engine.
Would have been late 1968 or early 1969. Before the Apollo landing for sure.
Launching in New Mexico at the time was Great. There were hardly any people there, and all you had to do was walk for about 15 minutes and you were in the middle of the desert.

I had a Centuri Black Widow. It was the first rocket I lost, coincidentally it was also my first 2 stage rocket. Was a shame too, I really liked that rocket. Would love to have another one. My booster would actually glide. Semroc has some of the parts.

My first rocket might have been another Centuri, but the Payloader is the one I remember the most.
I really liked that rocket. It was BRIGHT Yellow. I launched Crickets, spiders, and grasshoppers in that thing.
Bought another one last Christmas.
I haven't' gotten around to building it yet.
I think my priorities may be a little off.
Yeah. Priorities...

Jester
 
Astron Streak, 1962ish, disappeared. Rocket $.50, motor $.25.

Now I launch larger and more expensive rockets that are never seen again.
 
This is a fun thread. My first was a scratch school rocket of some sort, lost a long time ago. My first kit was, IIRC, an Estes Screamer, ca 1973. The lower cost of the mini brutes back then was important! Lost most of them, but still have the Mini-Bomarc. First BAR kit was the Scissor Wing transport, nearly 30 years later.
 
Early 1980's- Estes Alpha III and Estes Spartan. Wish I kept the originals. I built a clone of the Spartan a couple of years ago.
 
COX RTF Little Joe II,1970 (I was 10 yrs old).Wish I had it now.:sigh:
 
Astron Streak, 1962ish, disappeared. Rocket $.50, motor $.25.

Now I launch larger and more expensive rockets that are never seen again.

Back in my early years, I NEVER heard of anybody getting one back. That promise of 2000 ft on a C motor was just too tempting.
 
I never heard about any fireworks laws.

Neither did I..I used to 'beg' for some change from my parents for my motors..Got them at a hobby shop in the Chico mall..Toys By Roy, I think is what the name of the shop was..They had ALL the rocket stuff and train and plane stuff a kid could EVER wish for!:D

My first rocket launched was a Scout.Was, I think '74 or '75.:confused:.Tumbled down right next to the pad..My brother was with me and 'encouraged' me to launch it again, but this time on a C6..We heard it hit the ground, spent like 10 minutes looking for it, gave up as I had a 2 stager my brother wanted to see launched..Launched it..Staging was perfect. Saw the chute come out and then it drifted...And drifted..And drifted..I ran after it, but the last I saw of it was it about 500 feet up drifting over the almond tree orchard..never recovered it..Got the booster back tho! It landed right next to where the Scout landed from its second flight!:eyepop: I would have launched it a 3rd time but Dad showed up and it was dinner time!:rofl:
 
Estes Maxi Alpha, purchased in about 1979. It launched in D engines. I struggled getting the balsa fins straight.
 
Estes Skyhook, circa 1978.
I remember kinda disappointed that it was a min diameter and didn't have a engine hook (unlike my big sisters Alpha). All was well as soon as I started building. AND it came out ( to my 5th grade eyes at least) awesome!
 
Neither did I..I used to 'beg' for some change from my parents for my motors..Got them at a hobby shop in the Chico mall..Toys By Roy, I think is what the name of the shop was..They had ALL the rocket stuff and train and plane stuff a kid could EVER wish for!:D

As in Chico, CA? I can't remember how much the engines were back then, but they weren't much. I remember they came in the blue cardboard tubes, and the ignitors were the Astron that required 12 volts. My first launch system was an old 12 volt dry cell battery my Dad found somewhere, and a length of lampcord. Ah, those were the days!
 
My first was an Estes Mark II. All the sixth grade classes at Plew Elementary in Niceville, Florida, built and flew them back in 1974. The teachers used the rockets as part of every subject for a few weeks. The rockets were used in math, history, science, and English. Then, over a period of two days, we launched them.

I had incorrectly remembered the rocket as an Alpha for many years until seeing the Mark II's decals in a build thread in TRF inspired a flood of memories.

I recently bought a couple of Mark X-Kits from Semroc that I plan to kit-bash into Mark IIs in honor of the upcoming 40th anniversary of my first model rocket launch.

-- Roger
 
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