April 24, 2021 Launch in Amesbury; Start of a Full Season
- Details
- Published: Thursday, 29 April 2021 19:51
- Written by Claude Maina
Baseball of course - but rocketry too! The weather was great for our first launch of the season - not perfect as the winds were blowing toward the houses on the hill, limiting HPR flights. But it was a good start to the season. Skies were mostly sunny and temps in the 60's. It was the largest attendance we've had in a long time - well before COVID. Just showing there is a lot of pent-up launching fever. We had a few first timers and at least two groups of college students, one I know was from Olin College of Engineering. There were 176 flights with motors ranging from 13 mm A to J, and a complete launch day from 10:00 to 4:00. We had no CATO's but one very old Aerotech motor that chuffed and chuffed but just couldn't!
There were seven HPR flights, all in the afternoon as the winds were a little more accommodating (although not much). We had one successful L2 certification and a couple (?) of L1 certifications. Curtis launched only two Deuce's Wild rockets, a 24 mm and 29 mm version. Both gave nice flights. Kevin Cespedes launched a very nice 3D printed Mars Lander. It flew great but landed on its head and not its legs. Bruce Strong had a nice scratch-built Space Ark, a four-motor cluster. Unfortunately, none of the motors lit so it never left the pad (which would have made a very sad and very anticlimactic ending to the movie!). The rocket of the day though was the Mandalorian. It is a really nice rocket and flew nice as well. Pictures are in the Gallery. Please post yours.
Thanks to everyone who attended for abiding by the Covid guidelines. Thanks again to Kenn and Guy for manning the launch controls; and to Frank, Joe, Jim, Liz, Howard and everyone else who helped with set up, take down and the launch in general.
Our next launch is May 22 in Acton.