Summary update on BAAH-1, the L-1 cert bird. Okay, more than simply update: more of a recent history, since it’s now been quite some time since my last BAAH-1 posting. In fact, I started this update back in November 2014! Construction at that time was mostly complete. The only things remaining were the avionics bay […]

It was a great day at the ranch!  (Many thanks, again, to Bill Orvis and his family for allowing us to fly on their ranch!) The temperatures were moderate: not hot, certainly not cold.  In the sun, it was pleasantly warm.  The winds were very light.  The sky was clear.  It had rained lightly—just enough—a […]

The maiden launch of Die Fledermaus was on Saturday, February 2nd, at LUNAR‘s Snow Ranch launch facility. It was a beautiful day: light winds, pleasant temperatures, a good turnout of fellow space cases. Perfect situation to fly Die Fledermaus. The first flight, on a G64-4W, was fabulous. Picture-perfect. Nice, straight up, ejection near apogee, gentle […]

King Tut’s Pyramid, from Sunward Aerospace, has become one of my favorite rockets. It’s different from most of the other rockets flying, and I see fewer pyramids than most other oddrocks, like spools. King Tut’s Pyramid, though small, is not a light rocket. It’s about 25 cm tall (9″ or so) with a mass of […]

Launch report: we had a great time! My nephew launched my Big Bertha, and his Alpha III twice. The second launch was a drag race with my Krystal. After Adam left, I launched King Tut’s Pyramid, always a crowd-pleaser. Winds were very, very light. In fact, once the overcast burned off, they were just about […]

I guess the options are few. Quit the hobby. Scrap the rocket. Repair the damage. I’ve said that we rocketeers are at least slightly lunatic. After all, we spend a lot of time and money creating something that we intend then to fling rather violently into the sky—and we expect the creation to return intact! […]

Planning to launch this Saturday during LUNAR‘s monthly launch window. Planned manifest: Apogee Saturn V, either on a G64W (if Paul or someone else will lend a casing and build the motor with me) or a G77R. King Tut’s Pyramid (new rocket), on a G38FJ. Krystal on D12-0, 2×A3-4T; A8-5. Perhaps Big Bertha, on a […]

During the first flight, there was very, very minimal damage: one small grass stain (star thistle stain, actually) on the CM, and one of the fins had a small separation just behind the leading edge. It was easy to fix the fin with a little 60 second epoxy. The launch was on a G80-4T (single-use, […]

During NASA’s Moonfest celebration today, marking the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s flight, and with the help of Dr. Don Pettit, shuttle astronaut and ISS crew member, we launched. First flight was on a G80-4 single-use motor, second on a G64-4 reload. Two gorgeous flights! Many thanks to Cliff, Paul, Alan, and Dave, in particular, […]