Model Rocket Launch

Today I went to my daughter’s school to launch a rocket for her astronomy class. The rocket I launched was a large one: my daughter had been telling her classmates about it and several of them did not believe in a model rocket more than six feet tall. My daughter was delighted when I walked into her classroom carrying the thing.

The wind was blowing much stronger than we had anticipated, and that created some difficulties in launching the rocket. In fact, I had a pre-launch incident that actually damaged the rocket slightly prior to launch: the wind took hold and pulled one of the launch lugs off the side of the rocket. Fortunately, I was able to do a temporary fix and taped it back on. Then we had trouble with the electrical running to the igniter: one of the clips pulled loose. But finally, in the end, all was well and we successfully launched the rocket and recovered it in an undamaged state.


Click on the PLAY button. Or, RIGHT CLICK here and SAVE AS to your computer, and then OPEN after the download completes.

Here are some photos of me with the rocket. First, is a picture just prior to launch. The wind really caught hold of my hair, demonstrating that I probably need to have my hair cut:
rocketprelaunch

And here I’m trying to get the clips to stay put on the igniter:
rocketigniterissue
And here is a picture following the rocket launch:
rocketpostlauch
For those interested in such things, the rocket is a model available for purchase. The kit was manufactured by Estes and can be purchased through Amazon.com.

I used the largest recommended rocket motor for this launch, an E9-6.

Send to Kindle

About R.P. Nettelhorst

I'm married with three daughters. I live in southern California and I'm the interim pastor at Quartz Hill Community Church. I have written several books. I spent a couple of summers while I was in college working on a kibbutz in Israel. In 2004, I was a volunteer with the Ansari X-Prize at the winning launches of SpaceShipOne. Member of Society of Biblical Literature, American Academy of Religion, and The Authors Guild
This entry was posted in Science, Space. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *