Who still has there first rocket

[dcastle]

My oldest rocket, now retired, is an Estes Saros built in 1976. It is still in pretty decent shape.

Ah, the Saros! I had one of these in the mid 1970's and it was one of my favorites!!! I'd love to be able to clone this one!

 

[AndyC]

My first rocket is looong gone; it was scratch built in a school program. Was a very cool science class in grade school - building a rocket was a special activity for those who got their work done. We had occasional launches after school. A bunch of years ago my Dad cleaned out the garage, and shipped me a big box full of old rockets from when I was a kid - most were pretty badly damaged. One that survived was my Centuri Flying Saucer; and I'm glad it did - it was one of my favorites. The rocket is well over 30 years old, but we still take it to launches, and my son really likes flying it.

 

[Rocketcrab]

I still have the fins from my Astron Scout, circa 1968. I pay homege to them once a week - and I make my kids do the same. My wife is starting to think there's something wrong with me. :y:

 

[karlbaum]

I don't even remember what my first rocket model was. I was seven years old back in 1975 when I built my first rocket. I don't have any rockets from my early years. I remember doing the light the fuse and run technique back then.

 

[Donaldsrockets]

I don't have the very first rocket I launched but I still have my third rocket, an Estes Skywinder first built and flown in 1994.

It's pretty beat up and ratty looking but still in flyable condition. All the components are the originals except the BT and one of the rotor blades. Not to mention the fact that it has about 50+ flights on it.

However I have not flown it in several years. One of these days I need to break it out, put some new rubber bands on it and fly it again.

 

[adrian]

My first rocket was my Estes Patriot, which is still airworthy.

There were various Estes starter sets on sale and I originally looked to see which one went highest. Then I did a bit of thinking. For one thing, the highest flier might not be the best first choice as it would probably get lost. For another, if I decided model rocketry was not for me, this was (allegedly) a scale model and could probably be converted into a static scale model of a real missile. The first launch did not go according to plan, partly due to weak batteries and partly due to the igniter falling out - Cobra plugs had yet to be invented. Eventually the rocket did launch, I was hooked, and the conversion to static scale model never happened.

 

[Micromeister]

I've been wondering who still has there first rocket ever launched, I sure dont

I sure do not either, but I do have a Clone of it that I fly every now and then

 

[mjennings]

I still have my Alpha III, she's retired and enjoying life as a hanger queen. Don't know how many times she's flown, only started record keeping recently, but more than a few.

 

[GlennW]

If it's not my first rocket it certainly is one of the first: Alpha III that came with the pad & controller in the range box, circa 1980. Today it is a beat up mess & quite ugly but when I need a wind tester that I don't care about losing it goes into service. This thing just won't die!

Glenn

 

[BsSmith]

I still have the first rocket I've ever built, an Estes Hi-Flier, and I still have some of the first rockets I've ever seen.

The first (I believe) was my dad's Estes Seastrike D. It has crashed and been rebuilt several times, but I still have it with the original bottom stage and fins. There was also an Astron Avenger and Omega, the top stage of the Avenger landed in a tree and the top stage of the Omega lawn darted last year. I have the parts to rebuild the Omega, but it probably won't fly again.

 

[MrGneissGuy]

My first rocket is looong gone; it was scratch built in a school program. Was a very cool science class in grade school - building a rocket was a special activity for those who got their work done. We had occasional launches after school. A bunch of years ago my Dad cleaned out the garage, and shipped me a big box full of old rockets from when I was a kid - most were pretty badly damaged. One that survived was my Centuri Flying Saucer; and I'm glad it did - it was one of my favorites. The rocket is well over 30 years old, but we still take it to launches, and my son really likes flying it.

My first was a scratch built for school as well, but in junior high. It was a project in one of my shop classes. We were to build two with the same design but different weights, and if we finished those in time, we could build one of our own design (we called them experimental). I had my lightweight and heavyweight for a while after, but no more. Right after launch, my teacher told me that mine had one of the most stable flights he'd seen in any students' experimental. But of course a wind picked up right after recovery deployment and it ended up in the very top of about an 80' tall tree. Every day of school for weeks I'd see that thing hanging up there.

I haven't had much time since becoming a BAR for losing any of the newer ones yet. I got a little worried when we lost sight of the Flash with a C6-5 in it.

 

[SMR]

I've been wondering who still has there first rocket ever launched, I sure dont

Well, I'm going to have to qualify this. I was 13 in October 1968, and my first rocket was an Estes Alpha. We lived in the country, and launched it in my front yard, using a board with a 1/8" welding rod stuck in it, for guidance. Perfect flight going up, but came down and wrapped the parachute around a power line, where it taunted me for years. As components rotted, the rocket was eventually returned to me... in pieces. First was the body, as the shock cord gave out. (I replaced the nose cone and parachute and that rocket flew again!) Then were fragments of parachute as the wind tore it up. Finally the nose cone came down, when the weathered balsa could no longer hold the screw eye in. Last I checked, some parachute cord and the screw eye were still up there, so technically, yes, I DO still have some of my first rocket.

I had left an Estes ad in my dad's stuff, the one about rocketry being the "perfect father and son" activity, he took the hint and bought a Big Bertha for himself. He flew it a few times, and it sits (quite dusty) on a shelf in the garage to this day. It truly was the perfect father and son activity.

 

[CharlaineC]

I have my first three rockets the alpha, america, and the tornado.
the only one as of right now needs a new airframe and decals the rest fly wonderfully

 

[spaceclipper]

sadly , I don't have any of my "1st" generation rockets, or models of any kind for that matter. I miss my 1/45th Little Joe II the most, saved up a long time for that and never got to fly it. I have the Centuri Rocket Times that I ordered the LJII from though. I have the wooden launch pad from Estes I bought early on too. First rocket was the Skyhook, which I've replaced with the Semroc one, sadly the Mrs accidently destroyed before it's first flight so I have to build another...

 

[spaceclipper]

Love that style launch pad, wish Estes would bring it back. Help us old timers from getting cricks in the back from the current style- flat on the ground...put some D cells in and away you go...

 

[MarkII]

Firecat: that's a Centuri pad, isn't it?

 

[dpower]

I answered yes, since my brother still has our first "family" rocket, an Red & White Alpha III from 1973. The first one I built myself, was a class rocket, which is long gone. I do still have a few from my youth, mostly ones that I had done a better than typical job of building, and was afraid to fly back then. These include a mini-bomarc, which flew for its first time just a few years ago, and an original Scout, which flew alongside a golden scout for the 50th. I lost my original Cherokee-D after 30 years, so I'm a bit more careful about flying the older ones now

 

[dlb]

Think it's still in orbit, never saw it again!

 

[MarkII]

There are two launch pad's in the photo.
The one just behind the Alpha,
is the original Estes launchpad I was referring to.
The one to the right is, indeed, a Centuri launchpad;
which came with the Astro-1 starter set I bought at the same time
(this is all that's left of that set).
​

Nice website, Mario! I didn't recognize the pad behind the Alpha and it doesn't look like one that I have seen before. (It could just be the angle, though.) I had the Electro-Launch, which was the first pad that the Alpha was bundled with. That range box does take me back, though.

 

[dakota196]

I stated rocketry when I was 9 in 1968. First kit was a Astron Sprite. Have no clue where it is. From there I had various kits including Beta, X-ray, Saros, Mosquito, Nike-Zeus, der Big Red Max, a scratchbuilt Evil Kneival rear ejection rocket, EAC Firecat, Omega, non-camera, Centuri LJII. And so many more. The only ones I have left is the mosquito, Omega and of course the LJII. The Omega and mosquito have been repainted but the LJII is original. so I don’t have the first, but have very early ones.

 

[Hobie1dog]

I built my first one in 1969 and kept it until 1993 and it got tossed during a move from one state to another, and I've regretted it ever since.

 

[neil_w]

Good thread necro!

I have written before about having given away my childhood fleet (well, my parents gave them away, but I didn't fight it at the time), and I definitely regret it. No idea what I'd be doing with them if I had them, but I'd at least like to get to see them again. I have no recollection of which was my actual *first*, though.

 

[Marc_G]

Holy thread necro, Batman!

My first rocket, built when I was approximately 10 (~1977), was eventually mangled by my dog. Sigh.

But I still have 2 rockets from the next few years after that, a Nike AJAX and a Starship Vega. Upon beginning my latest BAR period, circa 2010, I reconditioned and flew both rockets. Really just needed to replace the brittle shock cords and was good to go.

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

No. 1974 all I could afford is Mosquitoes, 1/4 A motors, lantern battery with scrap electric cord, straightened out wire coat hanger and hope it made it off the pickle jar lid. Lost every one of them. Loved it every time.

But I do have:
Lvl one LOC Minnie Mag
Lvl two PML Sudden Rush
Lvl three LOC Big Nuke 3e (I made it a 3e XL for extra length. Needed to stick an M in it)

 

[BEC]

An addition to my prior post in this thread (over a dozen years ago!). While I don’t have the first one I launched (and am not even sure if it was a Streak or a Sprite), I DO have my very first scratch-built model, which I believe to be my fifth rocket (numeral 5 on a fin). It flew again in March of 2021, which would have been over 52 years since it was built (and nearly that since it was last flown).

By the way, the Sig contest rubber shock cord was/is still good half a century later.

John Boren has often remarked that naming a new design is one of the hardest parts. My 13-year-old self had the same problem. The model is marked “Nameless One I” The Tilt-a-Pad it is flying from is my original from my first Jr. High-High School rocketry period. It’s one of the few things I have left from then aside from this model and two or three others.

 

[loopy]

I do! Estes Sizzler (the mid-'80s one...1906). Used that design for my first HPR scratch build as well...did a 3x upscale of it.

 

[techrat]

In 1976, my first rocket(s) was a set of "Mosquito"s, for 69 cents each. With the 13mm motors, it was all I could afford at that time. They were built, painted, and when they launched, they went "whoosh", and I never saw them again. For all I know, they are still in the air.

 

[goose_in_co]

First Rocket, Aero-Hi is on the left. It had a hard life, first rocket built, and about a dozen moves since then.
The clone is on the right, in slightly better shape, and a much better paint job..

 

[jbsommerfeldt]

First Rocket, Aero-Hi is on the left. It had a hard life, first rocket built, and about a dozen moves since then.
The clone is on the right, in slightly better shape, and a much better paint job..

View attachment 562295

A much better paint job is all relative. The one on the left is WAY cooler to me.

 

[James53]

My first rocket was an Astron Scout that I launched about 55 years ago...It disappeared into the heavens and was never seen again. My theory is that somehow it achieved escape velocity and by now has traveled roughly 12 billion miles into interstellar space, just behind Voyager 1. Godspeed, little Scout.