Launch Report for Friday, July 19th, 2002

Total Impulse Today:  22.5 N-s

Launch Location
The Oval of
Kalamunda Senior High School
Kalamunda, Western Australia

So here I was in Western Australia.  Literally as far away from my home in Montreal, Canada as I can possibly get.  Even before I got here, I had decided that it would be very cool to launch a rocket from where to me was the other side of the planet and I would be one of the few people on the planet to actually do this.  After purchasing an Estes Alpha III Educator Starter Outfit at Stanbridge's Hobby Shop in Perth about a week earlier, my pen friend Nikalee, her Dad, and I went to the oval (schoolyard) of Kalamunda Senior High School which also happens to be the school that Nikalee went to.

I brought my Alpha III 03 (my third rocket of this type), the Porta Pad 07 launch pad, and Electron Beam 07 launch controller as well as my Sony camcorder to record every flight.

Here is "Nikalee's Rocket" soon after it was completed.  Nik had some additional stickers for me to put on it to give it distinctive look.  The entire rocket was built using CA.

I also got Nik to sign her name on the rocket as well.  It's now officially her rocket!  Note how I rearranged the letters of the "USA" decals to give the rocket Aussie markings.

Flight 673, 10th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes A8-3 for its 1st flight

Nik pressed the launch button for this rocket's very first flight and my very first rocket launch in Australia and my first in another country for that matter.  After one misfire due to weak batteries, up it went on an A8-3 for a great first flight.

Flight 674, 11th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes A8-3 for its 2nd flight

It was Nik's Dad's turn on the launch controller and Nik's Rocket went up again on another A8-3 to an altitude of roughly 300 feet.

Flight 675, 12th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes B4-4 for its 3rd flight

It was Nikalee's turn on the launch controller again... This time the rocket went up on a B4-4 and at 78 seconds, this was the longest duration flight of an Alpha III rocket that I've made to date.  It narrowly missed a row of trees in the distance as it descended on its chute.

Flight 676, 13th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes B4-4 for its 4th flight

Some youngsters had seen the previous flight from the adjacent field (Kostera Oval) and they hurried over to the launch site to see the next flight.  Again, Nik's Rocket made a flight on a B4-4 although the flight lasted a full 30 seconds less than the previous flight on the same motor type.  As the rocket descended, the kids ran after it hoping to catch it.

Flight 677, 14th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes A8-3 for its 5th flight

I had one A8-3 motor left from the two packs of motors that I had bought and so I decided to use it up since I couldn't take these motors back with me on a plane to Canada.  One of the youngsters wanted to press the launch button so I allowed him to do so and the rocket made a nice short flight that landed within 100 feet of the pad.

Flight 678, 15th flight this year
Estes Alpha III 03 on an Estes B4-4 for its 6th flight

Another youngster pressed the launch button for the last flight of the day, and up it went on my last B4-4 and my last motor period.  After its boost to 600 to 700 feet, it drifted a long way towards Kostera Oval and very narrowly missed the upper branches of a very tall tree.  Great flight though!

A fun time was had by all and I finally got to fly my first rocket in Australia.  Being wintertime and being quite rainy at times, it seemed quite possible that the launch wouldn't happen, but we did get a really nice day to be able to do it, and as happens so often when I go flying in my home town, kids showed up at the launch site, most of them seeing a model rocket for their first time and unaware that they exist.

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