Flag Rocket - Onboard Video - LDRS 2003 in Argonia, KS
Flag Rocket - Photos
Installing motor retention hardware, Amarillo, TX
Installing igniters, with Pat Gordzelik
Liftoff in Amarillo, TX - central N4000 provides 10 G's of acceleration
Sorting out lines on the 24' main parachute
Some minor rigging modifications at the launch site
Prepping altimeters in the upper electronics bay
Detailed view of parachute deployment bag, line stows, rigging, and upper electronics bay
View of the separation point for drogue parachute deployment
Liftoff in Lethbridge, Alberta on a cluster of two M1315's and two L850's
Just after main parachute release -- the upper red, white and blue parachute is the 10 foot diameter drogue.
Main parachute is still in deployment bag (tiny white pilot chute visible just below drogue)
The 24 foot diameter main parachute fully inflated, slowing the rocket to a safe touchdown speed
Arming electronics just prior to launch in Charleroi, PA
Installing pull-pin triggered igniters with Kreig Williams, with trusty helpers prepared to pull us out if things go wrong.
Liftoff in Charleroi, PA
Climbing under the thrust of a central M1419 and two outboard K's
Flag Rocket Construction
Where it all begins - cutting fiberglass cloth
Rolling resin into fiberglass body tube, with Kreig Williams
Finished body tube section curing on 16 inch mandrel
Body tube sections ready for transport
Mark Mazzon removing foam from the nosecone using a homemade lathe / router setup
Nosecone turning nearly complete...
Fiberglassing fins across the central 6 inch motor tube
Internals of the fin can, showing outboard motor tubes and igniter conduits
Sliding lower body tube section into place
A house makes a great ladder
Removing masking from stripes during painting
2006 X Prize Cup, Las Cruces, NM
There was not enough time to tow the rocket across the country, so we shipped it in via FedEx.
It arrives in a shipping crate built by Mark Mazzon and Woody Hoburg.
James Houghton came out to help with launch prep
The fin can
Flag rocket on display
An army of amazing rocketeers helps carry the rocket to the prep area
Happy to have rocket sections fully prepped for next day's flight. With Pat Gordzelik.
Fully assembled, in the prep area
Homebuilt turnstile antenna for receiving onboard video signal on 426.25 MHz
Ground and onboard video of launch - low and slow on a Pat Gordzelik "O" motor
The fin can "sticks the landing"
Upscale Mosquito - the "Bug"
Inspiration: the "Mosquito", a 3 inch tall Estes model rocket kit
Turning the nosecone's foam core, with Kreig Williams
Foam installed into lightening cutouts in fin cores
Giant homemade hotwire cutter, used to create fin airfoils. The Variac unit (bottom left) provides variable AC power.
Yellow fin painted
Loading onto launch rail in New York
Armed and ready for launch
Liftoff on a cluster of "M" motors!
More Photos
Prior to level two certification flight, with incredibly supportive parents, 2003
Loading two stage rocket on a launch rail in New York
Second stage long burn K185 ignites, enroute to 13,288 feet
Scratch-built three stage lifting off on a red "K" motor
Loading smaller flag rocket on launch rail in Argonia, KS, with Matt McKeown
Smaller flag rocket, pre-launch photo. Argonia, KS
Smaller flag rocket boosting on a cluster of three red "I" motors
Smaller version of the flag rocket, airstarting a K550 engine
Early HAM television payload
Upscale Mosquito lifting off on a K1100 in Charleroi, PA
