Wow. No news today, as I am still manic, coming down off the excitement of this weekend. If you want a hobby that boils your adrenalin, high powered rocketry is it. The excitement of seeing your creation roar off the pad and take to the heavens out of your control is a terrifying mix of elation and dread, because if everything doesn't go right, it's a long walk back with a broken rocket.
With the bigger rockets you can pour hundreds of hours into it, only to see it crash because you forgot something minor, or due to circumstances out of your control. While Southern Thunder had a lot of exciting launches, we had our share of "oops" launches as well. The kind that blow up on the pad, or disintegrate in the sky, or all of the recovery devices fail and you get a ballistic (think V-2) recovery. It also gets quite terrifying when rocket parts land in the midst of people. Luckily, no one got hurt, but your heart jumps into your throat when you hear the words "HEADS UP!" I had a motor casing from a broken rocket land about 30 feet away, and a rocket safely landed about 20 feet away, right in front of the Range Safety Officers tent.
It's a rush, let me tell you.
Leave a comment