ROCKETS

It all started with a rocket that I named "Moose-1". It took a total of three tries to get this rocket to work. On flight one, the rocket successfully cleared the launch rod, but then almost immediately pitched over to the right and nose-dived into the ground. On flight two, I decreased the rocket's mass significantly which allowed it to go slightly higher. However, the rocket still pitched over and ended up landing before chute deployment. For the third and final flight, I added those goofy popsicle sticks to act as fin extensions. The rocket shot straight up! Unfortunately, the parachute failed to exit the body tube before touchdown. While mostly intact, I did decide to discard the rocket.

My second ever model rocket, the Estes Alpha III! I only launched this rocket once, just before the second flight of Moose-1. During that flight, the ascent was flawless. However, an issue regarding either the nosecone being too tight or not using enough recovery wadding caused the parachute to not fully deploy. Burn marks on the chute, althugh small, were observed after recovery. The rocket remained fully intact however and is still displayed on my wall to this day!

I decided to name my first 2 stage model rocket "Bean and Cheese" because, well, who doesn't love a delicious bean and cheese taco? This rocket has flown only once, and while successful for the most part, Cheese's recovery system which is a streamer, failed to fully deploy at apogee. During recovery of Cheese, it was observed that the nosecone had ejected, but the streamer did not come out of the body tube. The most likely cause for this is the streamer and shock cord were packed too tight. Fortunately, Cheese was fully intact. Recovery of Bean was slightly challenging due to the dark color and small size. The rocket is still displayed on my wall to this day!

The classic Estes Olympus payload rocket kit! I did a custom paint scheme with black fading to gray, then gray fading to white. For the first flight, I put an alien figurine in the payload bay. During the flight, the nosecone and payload bay flew off the rocket when the ejection charge fired. During descent and recovery, it was observed that the chute got slightly tangled, but it was still able to slow down the rocket enough for a soft landing. Fortunately, I was able to recover the alien figurine, nosecone, and payload bay!