Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Starting at 8:00 PM EST / 7:00 CST on Sunday November 9th, the Discovery Channel will be airing Rocket Challenge... Rocket Challenge is a three hour presentation that was filmed by First Television at LDRS XXII which, this year, was held near Argonia, KS during the middle of July. LDRS,Large and Dangerous Rocket Ships, is the national high power model rocket get-together held once a year by the Tripoli Rocketry Association. Besides US rocketeers, model rocketeers from around the world attend this event, too, and in 2005, LDRS will be held in Canada. Some of the featured rockets you will see during this presentation, such as the flying porta potty "Our Stinkin' Rocket", were built by and/or involved members of the rocketry group I belong to, The Heartland Organization of Rocketry - THOR. You will possibly see me on screen during some of these featured projects... I will probably be wearing a white t-shirt that says "TEAM REDSTONE" in bold red letters and has a Mercury Redstone on the back, sun glasses, and a very dark blue (practically black) baseball cap. As for the main project that I was involved with that will air within the second hour of the show, several other guys from THOR and myself go under the team name "Thor's Hammer" as part of a contest where 8 teams compete to get an 8 foot tall rocket successfully built and flown in the least amount of time. Before the show is to first air on Sunday, I will give everyone a sneak preview of what to expect. If anyone misses the first or second airing during Sunday evening, it will be reaired twice on Thursday evening, once during the day on Saturday the 15th, and during the evening of Saturday the 22nd on the Discovery Channel. First of all here are the members of Thor's Hammer of which I was the team leader for: (from left to right) Rick Bosworth, Tony Nicklin, George Wimmer and his son Andrew (Andrew is more into rocketry then his dad!), and me (Richard "Apollo Leader" Burney)! Right behind me and to the right are some of the First TV people. This picture was taken before the contest started. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 All 8 teams were given parts and components provided by Public Missiles Limited. Some of the kits sets came with three fins, while others came with 4. The lengths and shapes of the nosecones varied so each team had to cut their tubes to different lengths to get the required 8 foot length. This is one of the other teams turning in their rocket to the the Range Safety Officer for inspection. Two of the eight teams were done building their rockets in under an hour. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Finished in about an hour and 25 minutes, Thor's Hammer! One of the other teams was just a minute behind us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Here's Tony after handing off out rocket to the RSO for inspection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Here are 6 of the other 7 competing rockets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 The "Rocket Babes" finished dead last at about 2 and a half hours... this was due in part to one of their members hading a heat stroke (it was about 105-110 degrees outside!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Some of the other teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Sounds cool! I'll be watching. Where did you guys place in the race? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 (edited) Here's Thor's Hammer and one of the other teams (Dave Leininger's "You Betchas" from Minnesota) getting ready to march out to the launch pads. Edited November 7, 2003 by Apollo Leader Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Sounds cool! I'll be watching. Where did you guys place in the race? Patience young Padawan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 The long march to the pads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Here's our team getting the rocket readied on the pad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Here's a shot of all the teams. All the rockets were being flown with the newly certified Cesaroni K530 Smoky Sam motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 Ready to do some flying! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 THOR's Hammer hits the Kansas skies. When all was said and done, our team I believe ended up in fourth place. The winning team got a trophy (can't remember if anything else). ALL teams got to keep their rockets and the Cesaroni Pro54 motor cases! In the case of our team, we ended up dividing up the rocket amongst ourselves. I ended up keeping most of the rocket (except the nose cone) myself. I plan on cleaining, repairing, and repainting it over the winter. I tentatively plan on going with a Char Aznable scheme and call it the Red Comet! Over the next few days, I will post some of the other special rockets you will see on the Discovery Channel this Sunday evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Hingtgen Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Don't you mean the salmon pink Comet? Anyways, wow, a rocket in a hour. I couldn't build an Estes Alpha that quick, and you guys got a 8-footer! Anyways, (maybe a stupid question) is the K530 a K-class motor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 7, 2003 Author Share Posted November 7, 2003 ...is the K530 a K-class motor? Yep, but it's a small one (about 1,400 Newtons). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted November 7, 2003 Share Posted November 7, 2003 Well, I'll still be there rooting for you to come in first on the show! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 8, 2003 Author Share Posted November 8, 2003 Well, I'll still be there rooting for you to come in first on the show! Domo! I'm about to hit the sack (just got back from seeing Matrix Rev.), but tomorrow I'll be posting more pictures. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 The show will start in an hour and a half, but I will go ahead and give a sneak preview of some of what you will see. First of all, here is "Our Stinkin' Rocket:. As can be seen, it is an actual Porta Potty! This thing was powered by two AeroTech M1419's. From left to right: Bruce Lee (who is president of THOR and is treasurer of Tripoli Rocketry Association - no Bruce Lee jokes, please ), unknown, Ky Michaelson (owner of Rocketman Enterprises), Jodi Michaelson (Ky's wife), Tony Cochran (fellow THOR member), and unknown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 Liftoff! Unfortunately, the two parachutes have already deployed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 ...with bot chutes opened, Stinkin' hardly got over a 100 feet up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 ... this is going to hurt! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 9, 2003 Author Share Posted November 9, 2003 Post flight. Even with the motors still under a little bit of power, Our Stinkin' Rocket was too baddly damaged. It might fly again next year! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Stumpy - World's tallest model rocket - over 52 feet tall! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Liftoff! Powered by 3 AeroTech J260 hybrids, Stumpy got to about 790 feet before it buckled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Post flight (left to right) - Frank Uroda (founder and president of Public Missiles Limited - PML was a spnosor for this project), Greg Rothman (Greg and everyone else on this list belongs to THOR), Bruce Lee, Kevin Rich, Devin Rich, Deb Trojanowski, and Kevin Trojanowski. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Just have time to post one more. Not sure if this will be on, but Larry Drake of our group tried to beat his old cluster record of successfully lighting 269 A10's back in 1997. In this case, he tried to do 316 Estes D11's... unfortunately, only about 140 of them lit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Since it was underpowered, Maxie D's timer didn't deploy it's chutes until it was about to hit the ground. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Almost forgot, but here is what 316 Estes D motors look like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 10, 2003 Author Share Posted November 10, 2003 Okay, did anybody watch it? I saw myself quite a few times throughout all three episodes usually in 1 to 3 second bits. Unfortunately, they didn't use the brief interview they taped of me out at the pads for the "From the Ground Up" Contest. For those who missed it, check the beginning of this thread or check my sig for the additional reair dates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commander McBride Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 I just finished watching it. I saw you in it a couple times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agent ONE Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 Rockets are the coolest... I built little ones when I was a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dna Posted November 10, 2003 Share Posted November 10, 2003 I have to convince my parents to tape it for me - my cable channel decided Discovery was a "Premium" channel and replaced it with a shopping network. And raised my rates. At least I'll catch it on the reair date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Leader Posted November 11, 2003 Author Share Posted November 11, 2003 I have to convince my parents to tape it for me - my cable channel decided Discovery was a "Premium" channel and replaced it with a shopping network. And raised my rates. At least I'll catch it on the reair date. If you can't get a copy on tape, I'll see what I can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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