Have been swamped at work so far this week, so only now getting to post this, but hope you guys enjoy...
On Friday, the Holloman High Speed Test Track re-created the famous Col Stapp sled run as a celebration of the 50th anniversary. This is the one where Col Stapp rode the rocket sled to over 600 miles per hour, then stopped in 1.5 seconds experiencing -40g deceleration.
Proving that being in the right place at the right time is the best planning of all, I'm lucky enough to be one of the unit commanders within the 46th Test Group, and hence good friends with the commander of the 846th Test Squadron (the HHSTT). When they began planning the memorial run, he indicated they'd be letting people include "trinkets" to ride on the run in small boxes. While I did avail myself of this, I also made a "sort-of offhand" comment that I'd like to send my PML Small Endeavour along for the ride. <as background, I had flown this rocket last spring as the "starting gun" for the 846th's Mach 10K Fun Run> He worked with his engineering team ... and ... guess what? They made it happen!
His sled design team developed a mounting system that fixed my rocket on the sled and away we went. I'm still gathering all the pictures and will post them soon, but suffice it to say that the Stapp re-creation was awesome and my rocket made it through like a champ! Only damage: nose cone came loose during the water braking and got some paint damage/scrapes, and I had to hammer the piston back out due to the swelling from the water brake soaking.
WOO HOO!
On Friday, the Holloman High Speed Test Track re-created the famous Col Stapp sled run as a celebration of the 50th anniversary. This is the one where Col Stapp rode the rocket sled to over 600 miles per hour, then stopped in 1.5 seconds experiencing -40g deceleration.
Proving that being in the right place at the right time is the best planning of all, I'm lucky enough to be one of the unit commanders within the 46th Test Group, and hence good friends with the commander of the 846th Test Squadron (the HHSTT). When they began planning the memorial run, he indicated they'd be letting people include "trinkets" to ride on the run in small boxes. While I did avail myself of this, I also made a "sort-of offhand" comment that I'd like to send my PML Small Endeavour along for the ride. <as background, I had flown this rocket last spring as the "starting gun" for the 846th's Mach 10K Fun Run> He worked with his engineering team ... and ... guess what? They made it happen!
His sled design team developed a mounting system that fixed my rocket on the sled and away we went. I'm still gathering all the pictures and will post them soon, but suffice it to say that the Stapp re-creation was awesome and my rocket made it through like a champ! Only damage: nose cone came loose during the water braking and got some paint damage/scrapes, and I had to hammer the piston back out due to the swelling from the water brake soaking.
WOO HOO!