Hello rocket world

[Kyle and son rockets]

Good morning everyone,

My 5 year old son and I are new to the amateur rocket world. A few weeks ago I told my son that his great grandfather helped build the Apollo 11 and started showing him videos of his great grandfather. Soon after, we bought a small kit from the store. I wasn’t impressed by the altitude.

I have a chemistry background and a field owned and run by the state that allows testing of amateur rockets and am looking forward to testing our first home built solid propellant!

 

[cwbullet]

Welcome.

 

[NTP2]

We have a research section but you have to get your L2

 

[neil_w]

Good morning everyone,

My 5 year old son and I are new to the amateur rocket world. A few weeks ago I told my son that his great grandfather helped build the Apollo 11 and started showing him videos of his great grandfather. Soon after, we bought a small kit from the store. I wasn’t impressed by the altitude.

I have a chemistry background and a field owned and run by the state that allows testing of amateur rockets and am looking forward to testing our first home built solid propellant!

If you want to get into mixing your propellants that's great, but just be aware that there are commercial motors and kits that will take you anywhere from 200ft almost to space.

 

[tsmith1315]

Good morning everyone,

My 5 year old son and I are new to the amateur rocket world. A few weeks ago I told my son that his great grandfather helped build the Apollo 11 and started showing him videos of his great grandfather. Soon after, we bought a small kit from the store. I wasn’t impressed by the altitude.

I have a chemistry background and a field owned and run by the state that allows testing of amateur rockets and am looking forward to testing our first home built solid propellant!

Welcome Kyle and Son!

We’d love to see any pics, videos or hear any stories about your father! I know it would be a long shot, but there are others here with roots in the space program, maybe you’d find a connection. Try a few searches?

You’re very lucky to have a field to support you activities. I don't know how much you've researched, but there is a national club that supports model & high power rocketry, including "research flights" which use non-commercial motors. That organization is Tripoli Rocketry Association: www.tripoli.org, and there are active clubs in your area. To fly research motors under their insurance, you'd need to fly a couple of high power rockets to get your Level 2 certification. At that point, you'd be covered by a $3M policy as long as you followed the Tripoli Safety Code.

To find Tripoli clubs in your state: https://www.tripoli.org/content.aspx?page_id=225&club_id=795696

Good designs, formulas and lots of legwork already done in this book available from our own @prfesser in his book on making composite propellants: http://www.compositepropellantbook.com/

For higher altitudes, commercial motors can easily surpass any altitudes allowed by the field sizes found on the East Coast. Getting to the altitude isn't so much the problem as getting the rocket to come back down on the field. Small black powder motors can certainly take model rockets out of sight. The annual club launch near me has a 14,000 foot FAA waiver, but weather usually limits flights to a few thousand feet.

Have fun and post pics!

 

[Hobie1dog]

 

[Dane Ronnow]

Welcome to the forum!

 

[KenECoyote]

!