Yea we're close to going to Goddard but not quite yet. Do you know how many times they let you launch? I think I may have set the expectation too high with the kids because we usually do about ten launches in an hour or so.

My nose cones suck. They are plastic wine bottle corks. Safe, sturdy, but not that pleasing to the eye. I'm planning my second generation, version 2.0. Should be even more sturdy, will definitely look cooler (especially the nose cones), and will recover even better than these do. I should have that done by the middle of August.

I started to say where we launch but I think I should keep that under wraps. It's a safe location that follows the local government and NAR rules, but I don't think the local government would appreciate me advertising it. After hundreds of flights, we've lost one rocket. I know where it went, but I was too embarrassed to knock on the person's door to ask to get in their back yard. Keep in mind our rockets fly pretty straight up and then drop almost straight down. After the ejection goes off, the rocket become very unstable and tumbles straight down slowed by a long streamer.

Funny story, about a year ago when we were just figuring out how to make rockets that fly straight, we were all set to launch when I heard a helicopter fluttering in the distance. For some reason my kids can not stop a count down themselves, so I reached over and pulled the safety pin from the launcher. The helicopter got louder and closer until we could see it was one of the white tops marine helicopters the the president uses. It was a single bird flying quite low, so I don't think President Bush was in it. Glad we waited to launch until it was gone, though.

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Michael

1988 300 SL (5 Speed)
1994 E320 Wagon
1997 C230