To Boldly go ..... Silver

by Geoff Canham, LUNAR #493

"... 3 ... 2 ... 1 ... lift off". The egglofter lifted off perfectly, then weathercocked over into an almost horizontal flight, but maintained a good altitude. There was the puff at ejection, then "Houston, we have a problem!". Where's the parachute? Oh. no! The motor had ejected instead of the recovery system. The splat at impact was loud and clear, and the remains looked tragic. The plastic egg housing was basically a collection of splinters, but with a lot of Goop adhesive and a considerable amount of paper, the QCR Easter Egg was back ready for a second flight a week later.

It was the end of April 1997, and my stepson, Matt Kennedy, and I were starting out on the NARTREK (NAR Training Rocketeers for Experience and Knowledge) silver level. The requirements were:

1. A successful payload flight
2. A rocket powered glider flight (either a boost glider or a rocket glider) of at least 30 seconds duration, using not greater than a B motor (preferably an A)
3. A successful cluster rocket flight, using 3 or more motors
4. A flight with a scale model rocket

Matt got the NARTREK Silver kit from QCR which included rockets for the first three categories, and an Estes Phoenix for the scale model. I started out with three Estes rockets: Astrocam for the payload, TransWing for the glider, and Mercury Atlas for the scale, with MIRV Gryphon from Seattle Rocket Works for the cluster.

Matt's egglofter was the first to fly, and its follow-up flights went much the same way as the first. Even after getting the motor taped in properly, the parachute failed to open fully and the eggs continued to die. The egg housing ended up with probably more Goop than plastic, and the body tube was held together with Scotch tape. It took a while to achieve success here, and Easter Egg became known as the Egg Scrambler.

My payload rocket, Astrocam, flew well on its first flight (a week after the egglofter's first flight), but with a 24 frame film loaded, I had to fly it a few times before getting the film developed. Most of the frames were used up taking pictures of the various meets, only six frames actually being used on flights. The fourth flight had the shockcord break, but only minor damage ensued. The next flight was more problematic when it landed on a roof, and the search and rescue team (me) had to employ a bit of ingenuity to retrieve it. When the film was developed, the only frame taken on a flight that showed more than cloud and sky was the one taken on the final flight, at the May 1997 LUNAR launch.

That May launch also saw the Egg Scrambler finally leave the egg unscrambled. The same day the two cluster rockets (Matt's QCR 270, renamed Zippety-do-da, and my MIRV Gryphon) made successful flights, along with Matt's Phoenix, which had a picture perfect first flight. Also, my TransWing made a 34 second flight, but on checking my motors afterwards, I realized I may have used a C motor, rather than a B.

From previous TransWing flights I didn't think I was going to achieve the required duration on a B, so I set about building a Status-4 rocket glider, the design for which was included in the NARTREK package (although I did vary the design a bit). My Status-4 was ready for the June LUNAR launch and achieved a 35 second flight on its first flight, using an A10-3T motor. That same launch saw my Mercury Atlas make a beautiful flight on a D12-3, completing my silver requirements.

Matt just had his glider flight to complete, and his QCR Never Loop was ready to fly at the July LUNAR launch. It didn't live up to its name, looping several times, which was ideal because it meant there wasn't too far to go to recover it at the end of its 37 second flight on an A3-4T. On its seventh flight (at the December 1997 launch) it flew too well and disappeared from view, never to be seen again. A rebuild of the glider has been made, but it tends to float down rather than glide.

To date Matt's egglofter has flown six times, Zippety-do-da four times, Never Loop eight times (including the rebuild) and Phoenix seven times. My Astrocam has flown six times, MIRV Gryphon four times, TransWing seven times, Status-4 four times, and Mercury Atlas three times.

The NARTREK bronze level employed standard kits, but silver level, especially the glider requirement, needed more involved construction. We are now working on the Gold level, which involves designing and constructing a rocket from scratch. We'll let you know how we get on with it.

(Ed: Also see Geoff's earlier article "To Boldly go .. Bronze" in the March/April 1998 issue of LUNAR'clips.