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Congrats on the awesome flight! I am wondering if that diagram/poster you see in the vid of the rocket on display at the show is available for viewing online? Looks like there is diagrams of the motors, and I would love to see the specs for those :).
 
Kevinis correct. It moved as the rocket was on it and the last button was still on it and that is why it made a large ARC over the crowd instead of landing more behind/inline with the pad.

Ben
Hard to say, several videos track the rocket close up so you can't see the whole flight path in relation to everything else very easily.

I don't remember it arcing over the crowd under power..., although it was overhead (above the parking area) when the parachutes depoloyed, which made some folks nervous....


I don't know how many videos are up now - of the several I've seen, it looks to me like the rocket clears the tower, which sways back and forth as the rocket leaves, and then the rocket continues straight up, well past the tower, for 18 seconds w/o arcing...

In this video - it appears to me the rocket probably arced during motor burn out....which is how I remembered it when watching it.

See this video, and tell me what you think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lixC3CNiO4

The tower sways at 1:15 in this video...and I thought rails preventd rod whip - (LOL)
Post flight reports indicated the tower had moved up to 10 feet from its original anchored position...I would ask if you all think the tower could travel horizontally if it rocked enough times, just like when you rock a piece of furniture to help move it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4l2aFkZ_VM

As for rail guides catching....I think what you guys are refering to is what you can see at 1:06....(stop the tape and tell me what you see):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj4lj6YSwzg
Think maybe that caused the tower sway as the rocket left and the tower released?
 
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Steve's incredible flight and accomplishment has now made it to the big time.

Countdown on MSNBC devoted 15-20 seconds about the flight. Pretty Dang cool!

The legend continues to grow :)
 
I don't remember it arcing over the crowd under power..., although it was overhead (above the parking area) when the parachutes depoloyed, which made some folks nervous....

I was at the back corner where the Higgs drive way starts in the front row. I agree with MaxQ that the rocket under power was not over the crowd. In addition, from my vantage point, the chutes opened between the launch pad and the crowd. It then drifted over the crowd by the tree line (from what I could tell).

Overall, an incredible launch!
 
Hard to say, several videos track the rocket close up so you can't see the whole flight path in relation to everything else very easily.

I don't remember it arcing over the crowd under power..., although it was overhead (above the parking area) when the parachutes depoloyed, which made some folks nervous....


I don't know how many videos are up now - of the several I've seen, it looks to me like the rocket clears the tower, which sways back and forth as the rocket leaves, and then the rocket continues straight up, well past the tower, for 18 seconds w/o arcing...

In this video - it appears to me the rocket probably arced during motor burn out....which is how I remembered it when watching it.

See this video, and tell me what you think:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lixC3CNiO4

The tower sways at 1:15 in this video...and I thought rails preventd rod whip - (LOL)
Post flight reports indicated the tower had moved up to 10 feet from its original anchored position...I would ask if you all think the tower could travel horizontally if it rocked enough times, just like when you rock a piece of furniture to help move it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4l2aFkZ_VM

As for rail guides catching....I think what you guys are refering to is what you can see at 1:06....(stop the tape and tell me what you see):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj4lj6YSwzg
Think maybe that caused the tower sway as the rocket left and the tower released?

I see a very large fireball at 1:06. That would be the thermite initiators.
 
I see a very large fireball at 1:06. That would be the thermite initiators.

Ummmm...yeah.

And within that second - as it leaves the pad, notice the divergent angle, vertically, in relation to the tower...

It is leaning away from the tower towards the camera, ...fairly noticeably.

(very visible when you enlarge the screen and stop action).

I think this is what Ben and Kevin were alluding to in earlier posts...

A number of us examined the tower post flight, there was a visible kink in two vertical steel members at the base, and a weld in the horizontal bracing had cracked at that kink.
Leads me to believe all that weight of the rocket had tried to pull away from the tower as it moved...just as the video shows...
 
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I have to say that was a beautiful flight but how close were those two people in the videos in the launch? I realise a long lenses can stack stuff but man they looked awful close when that thing went up. Just a question not a serious critique or problem. I wish i had been there to see it. Someone said it looked like mine which was nice but I beg to differ as this was truly magnificent :)
Cheers
fred
 
I have to say that was a beautiful flight but how close were those two people in the videos in the launch? I realise a long lenses can stack stuff but man they looked awful close when that thing went up. Just a question not a serious critique or problem. I wish i had been there to see it. Someone said it looked like mine which was nice but I beg to differ as this was truly magnificent :)
Cheers
fred

I'm almost certain they were closer than the minimum personnel distance, and it appeared that debris from liftoff was thrown up to the distance of their positions, if not the direction. However, I think that has been the most violated safety code rule of all time, as special circumstances and do-at-your-own-risk allow. I assume those were Discovery Channel employees, trying to get close enough to eliminate ground heat visual effects. Since MDRA has their own insurance, and DC has their own as well, they weren't worrying about NAR/TRA or NFPA too much.
 
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