Fie on burned-through delays. A pox on them and their progeny!

Bed Knobs and a Broomstick Launch, June 26, 2010, NASA Ames

It was an absolutely beautiful day out at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field for the monthly LUNAR launch. Cloudless, light winds (almost no wind until about 11!), pleasantly warm but not hot, fun people, a good crowd. Paul Pittenger started us off with a triple drag race, including a pair of his styrofoam Sputniks. We had plenty of volunteers, so the expected possibility of flying once, if that, before helping didn’t materialize.

Bad, Bad Zipper for Bed Knobs and a Broomstick

I enjoyed chatting with people as a built the G64-4W for Bed Knobs and a Broomstick’s third launch. The rocket got lots of attention while I waited in the check-in line: Dan’s nosecone really is an eye-catcher. After a minor difficulty with the launch controller, up went the Broomstick! I was just settling in for a nice flight and the tension of the ejection charge’s timing when BAM! went the motor and out popped the parachute, with the rocket doing about 100 meters/second and at maybe 100 meters altitude. The chute deployed fine, but—but—when I recovered the rocket after a reasonably gentle landing, I saw the zipper.

Feh. Feh, feh, and fie on that delay charge! I’m not at all sure why the delay charge just burned right through. The zipper is evident in the picture on the right where the red-orange parachute is showing through.

King Tut’s Pyramid flew twice today: once on a single-use F50-4T for a very nice flight, once on a G77-4R. Again, something odd happened with the delay, and it seemed to burn right through, or perhaps the thrust gasses leaked around the seals. Regardless, ejection occurred during or just after boost. The pyramid’s rear ejection (tossing the entire motor mount aft, with parachute attached) prevented damage, though.

Despite the problematic ejections, it was a wonderful day!