Silverleaf
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- Feb 22, 2003
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The 34 mile chase...
True story that happened with my original Juno rocket on her maiden voyage, some 4 months after the kit came out from Estes.
We had launched on my Grandfather's property - as I still do to this day, and on that particular launch, the wind gusted up above the tree line just at launch, which seemed to spell doom for the rocket. She popped her chute and was gone, down the lane, out onto the road, and into the back of a 1971 pickup truck - puke green in color - which was speeding by.
My Grandfather wasn't home, but one of the neighbors from across the road was watching the launch, and came flying up the lane on his old hog, yelled for me to jump in and off we went. Chased this truck all the way into town, up onto the interstate and caught him near Canton - almost 35 miles away on the highway.
I kept thinking - great, the chutes gonna inflate and boom, she'll be gone. Only had a ding on the nosecone and 2 torn shroud lines and the guy never knew it was in there.
True story that happened with my original Juno rocket on her maiden voyage, some 4 months after the kit came out from Estes.
We had launched on my Grandfather's property - as I still do to this day, and on that particular launch, the wind gusted up above the tree line just at launch, which seemed to spell doom for the rocket. She popped her chute and was gone, down the lane, out onto the road, and into the back of a 1971 pickup truck - puke green in color - which was speeding by.
My Grandfather wasn't home, but one of the neighbors from across the road was watching the launch, and came flying up the lane on his old hog, yelled for me to jump in and off we went. Chased this truck all the way into town, up onto the interstate and caught him near Canton - almost 35 miles away on the highway.
I kept thinking - great, the chutes gonna inflate and boom, she'll be gone. Only had a ding on the nosecone and 2 torn shroud lines and the guy never knew it was in there.