What was the first rocket you ever launched?

[James Deckon]

Mid 90’s. Estes airwalker. Clear payload section. I was hooked ever since

 

[B_RadB]

Estes "Galaxy Guppy" - one of the Goonie Birds, circa 1973.

 

[Jeff Curtis]

Estes V2 around 1969

 

[Alan R]

I remember building and launching a Mars Snooper and an Orbital Transport sometime in jr. high school, 1968-69ish. Neither of those would have been the first though, just the earliest ones i can remember.

 

[John Kemker]

I was 8, which makes it almost 50 years ago.

It was an Estes WAC Corporal that I got for Christmas. Dad and the neighbor helped me paint it Gulf Oil orange and blue. Launched it at the Bayou Rifles Gun Club's Addicks Dam small bore range near Houston.

 

[Jim Hinton]

1968
Estes Astron Drifter. I launched with my home made pad and ignition system.

Jim

 

[Chris Lagemann]

1969 - Aerobee 300 in a B6-4 (I think). I had royally screwed up the thin paper centering rings for the engine mount and " fixed it" with wraps of masking tape. Still flew great....

 

[rkoenn]

It was an Estes Astron Scout and I believe during the summer of 1966. My dad was a teacher down here in Pinellas County, FL and had a job at Clearwater HS that summer. I would go with him and they had a summer recreation program that included working in the wood shop. The shop had a model rocket program as well and my first rocket was the Scout in that program. We went outside the school one day and had a launch and I flew it. The shop teacher said it was the first one he had seen actually tumble down. I then got an X-Ray but cut the fin grain wrong and was called the X-Ray destroyer by the other kids which I think was partly because the X-Ray was considered a more expensive rocket and I had bought one. As I recall after that one flight I quit flying for a year or two before returning to rockets on my own and going hog wild with them when I did.

 

[SammyD]

Mosquito in about 1973 or so. We'd buy them at the hobby shop, get the little motors and some black powder fuse and go to the park. Launch "tower" was a straightened coat hanger wire with a paper plate for a blast plate... LOL!

 

[msjohnso]

WAC Corporal, October 8, 1966, on a 1/2A.8-2.

 

[Ken Wyvill]

Estes Star Trek Starter Kit. 1976. I was 10 years old, then. It's what got me into model rocketry. I've been hooked ever since.

 

[Leo]

Estes Star Trek Starter Kit. 1976. I was 10 years old, then. It's what got me into model rocketry. I've been hooked ever since.

Welcome to the club
=> What was the first rocket you ever launched?

 

[PXR5]

I don't really remember, but I think it was a Hornet.
Of course the mosquito was a favorite. My first launch was 1972 I'm guessing.

 

[cussler08]

I don't really remember, but I think it was a Hornet.
Of course the mosquito was a favorite. My first launch was 1972 I'm guessing.

 

[cussler08]

My First was a WAC Corporal. Was about 1969. Next was a big Bertha, same year.

 

[Keycube]

Estes Star Wars Proton Torpedo. Lost it on top of my elementary school. On a quest to clone that darn thing, it was beautiful!

 

[John Taylor]

Estes Alpha 1969. YMCA shop.

 

[russell_t]

Estes Sky Hook, around 1969-1970. I had doubts about the strength of the D batteries I was using in my Electro Launch, but the Sky Hook took off and I never saw it again. I had expected to see a "slow, realistic takeoff" such as I had read about the Big Bertha in the Estes catalog.
Currently working on the Semroc Sky Hook as time allows.

 

[LW Bercini]

Astron Space Man on a 1/2A.8-2, some time around the end of 1967.

 

[STXFlyer]

circa 1980 sizzler, got the range box combo for christmas one year

 

[bronicabill]

For me, the first one I built was an Estes Falcon boost glider, but I never flew it via rocket power, only used it as a hand-tossed glider. That was in 4th grade, so right around 1970-71.

The first one that I built and actually launched was an Estes Alpha III, probably about 2 years later...

 

[Cape Byron]

Cox Honest John around 1972.

 

[Lugnut56]

In late 74 or early 75, I helped my cousin launch a rocket with a camera (don't remember the model). We were trying to get an aerial photo the high school to use in the yearbook, but all we got was a nice picture of the sewage treatment center. I got into model rockets about 5 years ago, and my first launch was the Estes Amazon.

 

[david davy]

Since my return to rocketry I have been looking through old Estes and Centuri catalogs (on the internet) and remembering the 1970's. The first rocket I ever launched was an Estes Alpha III in 1974. It was painted black, the only color of paint we had in the garage, and the nosecone and fin unit were left orange. It lasted about 4 flights before I lost it.

Just thought I would ask, what was the first rocket you ever launched?

 

[david davy]

Estes X-15 RTF in the early 70s and still have it.

 

[trialsguy]

Estes Alpha, around 1965, I was 10. I recall using incompatible paints on it and it looked like a rocket that escaped from an exploded tie-dye factory. My favorite was my Estes Arcas. It was big and heavy, so there was little chance of loosing it by flying it out of sight or have it float away on it's chute.

 

[Lynn McCall]

Astron Scout, 1961, wait for weeks to get it through the mail, I was HOOKED!!!

I am still hooked.

 

[Lynn McCall]

First rocket was:
Astron Sprite... I still have it.

View attachment 146857

I absolutely loved that thing on a 1/2A6-2.

 

[Lynn McCall]

I absolutely loved that thing on a 1/2A6-2.

Sorry...
It was a 1/2A6-2S.

 

[fyrechaser]

Estes Astron Alpha with a crappy paint job. ( red and white painted with a brush with who knows what kind of paint ) Probably about 1967