Kim's
Long Shot
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The Estes Long Shot is our first attempt at building & launching a two stage rocket! The booster stage uses a D12-0 engine (the "0" means no delay, so it can ignite the upper stage as soon as the booster burns out). We used a B6-5 (I think) for the upper stage, as recommended for the first flight. The booster tumbles down after ejecting (plastic fins so it won't break), and the main stage is recovered using a streamer. Kim started to build her Long Shot during summer school, but the engine mount got jammed and she had to leave for camp in Boston before finishing. We managed to extract the engine mount and finish the Long Shot in mid August. Here are some pictures from it's first two launches: On the launch pad 8/20 It flew beautifully to 800~900 feet.. Kim and another future Rocket Gal: We caught the second launch at liftoff... ...but the upper stage didn't
burn right
10/4 update: Rebuilt again, this time with a reinforced body tube coupler near the fins and an 18" parachute instead of the streamer (someone else had the same problem with their Long Shot, and recommended these modifications on rec.models.rockets; you can view rec.models.rockets via http://deja.com). I also put a larger engine mount in the upper stage (D engine!!). Computer simulation software predicts that this Long Shot could fly to ~1250 feet on two D-engines!! The rocket now sports the above decal instead of the Estes decals!! :-) |
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Rocket stuff Other Interests
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