CSXT is a Success!!!!!

By Tony Cochran

Indeed it was a success, beyond all imagination! I just got back into town from Black Rock, where Bruce Lee and myself helped out in the launch of the first private, civilian, amateur, or whatever you want to call it, rocket launch into space. The team performed exceptionally well together, with many important contributions all around. The question on everyone's mind is how high did it go? Jerry Larson, launch conductor, was working late into last night downloading and calculating the exact altitude reached. Some info I found on Rocketry Online today after getting home says we reached 77 miles high, so Jerry must have been successful in calculating the altitude and released that figure. Woo-hoo!! That number exceeded our expectations and breaks all possible definitions of "space." Since we were able to launch on the first day, Bruce, Ky, and Jodi were going to visit Lake Tahoe or San Francisco this week. For a number of reasons I came home early, although I wanted to go with them. Following is my blow-by-blow description of my small part of the launch:

Friday: Bruce and I arrived in Reno and were picked up at the airport by Bruce Kelly, in his big red truck. We went and picked up the helium tanks used for the wind balloons, and the porta-pottie. Two important items indeed. We met up with Ky Michaelson and had our annual all-you-can eat sushi feast, at the best sushi place I know of. Raw tuna, shrimp, eel, salmon, mussels, scallops, and more. It tastes as good as it sounds! After gorging ourselves, we stayed in Reno that night.

Saturday: Bruce, Bruce, and I drove up to Gerlach, NV on the edge of the Black Rock desert. We checked into Bruno's fine motel, it is the same as ever. Bruno himself is as healthy and cantankerous as ever. The food in his restaurant was good this trip, they have a new cook. The Go-Fast RV arrived in town, they are one of the main sponsors for the project, and sent out their fancy, duded out RV and a helicopter for support. Prime rib for dinner.

Sunday: We unloaded the porta-pottie and helium tanks at the launch site, in the middle of the dry lake bed. We also hooked up to the launch control trailer and hauled it out. The morning was spent in the job of putting together the launch tower, something that Bruce and I have gotten quite familiar with doing. The rest of the team was busy with putting the rocket payload, fin can, and motor sections together. We all then loaded the rocket into the tower and rotated it up to vertical. The rocket itself is quite good looking, red and black, with nice decals and red anodizing. Ravioli for dinner.

Monday, launch day: One of the requirements for the launch campaign is that we do a mission dress rehearsal of our launch procedures, so we did that first thing in the morning. We went through the 45-minute countdown procedures and performed all the actions required leading up to an actual launch. Bruce Lee is the Range Safety Officer of the team, he has to give a safety speech over the PA at the start of the countdown. He then has to monitor all vehicle traffic on the playa, and also coordinate with two train-spotting teams located ten miles away. My part is to fill and launch the balloons used to measure the upper winds just before launch. Everything went fine in the dress rehearsal, except for a glitch receiving telemetry from the avionics unit. An hour or so was spent troubleshooting this, before it was resolved.

The clouds were clearing and the winds were light, so we started the countdown for the actual launch. The trains cooperated by staying out of the area, and my part of launching the balloon went smoothly. As we approached the final two minutes of the countdown a couple of motorcycles appeared in the distance, so we had to hold for a minute or two as they drove up to our launch site and out of the way. There were also a few typical Burning Man people with us, along with quite a few other visitors. Tripoli members included Chuck Rogers, Fred Brennion, Jeff Jakob, and a few others. Anyway, we resumed the countdown and at 11:12 am the button was pushed and the rocket took off! It had a deep roar and boosted straight. I was just watching and waiting to see if the motor was going to fail, but it performed well. There was a small chuff at the end of the burn that turned out to be benign. The rocket disappeared as soon as the motor burned out, and everyone knew that the flight was going to be successful.

There was much hooping and hollering. The trackers heard two separate pinging signals, indicating a successful separation of the payload section! A few minutes later we heard three sonic booms, which we believe was the booster section coming in ballistic. The tracking team and the helicopter spent the rest of the day narrowing down the location that the payload section came to rest, but ran out of daylight. Everyone was feeling quite good, we made it to space! Bruce and I spent the rest of the day tearing apart the launch tower and loading up the trailer, in the middle of a high winds and a nasty sand storm. The launch tower, made of heavy steel tubes, had been bent in several places when the rocket took off! We won't have to assemble this tower again. Chicken-fried steak for dinner.

Tuesday: The day was spent recovering the payload section and downloading data. Bruce and I followed the recovery team out to the suspected landing zone and eventually started a search with about 15 other people. The payload location had been narrowed down to be within a small valley/canyon in some rugged terrain. We drove out 20 miles or so, down a gravel road, up a side road for six miles, up a four-wheel drive road for a few more miles, and then had to walk up the valley. After a few hours the payload was found almost at the top of a mountain in a rock field on a 45 degree slope. The climb up there was very tough, but several people made it up. The payload and nose cone were imbedded in the rocks, with very little damage, just some gouges in the sides from the rocks. The parachute was in good shape, too. We hauled it down, took it to Bruno's and opened it up. I now have a few small items that have been in space! Bruce recovered his credit card which also was in the payload section. Tripoli member Fred Brennion had put his driver's license in the payload. Hot beef sandwich for dinner.

I came home on Wednesday, and dropped off my film for developing. I will send out some of the better pictures when I get them back. I don't have any pictures of the fully assembled rocket or the launch, as I was too busy with the activities going on. Jeff Jakob's web site: rockethigh.com has three pictures.

The above is a summary of my contribution to the project, other people have similar stories to tell of their parts. I had a great time, and was glad to be part of history. If the rocket eventually ends up in the Smithsonian museum, I will be able to go look at it and know I was there when it happened.

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