First Private Rocket into Space!

[Apollo Leader]

http://www.arrl.org/news/stories/2004/05/17/100/?nc=1

It has not been posted on any other news sites (aviation, space, or otherwise) yet, but I figured I'd let you guys in on it. I personally know some of the people involved with this, so I'm glad to see everything come to fruition.

The timing's great since Burt Rutan is about to send actual people in his Space Ship One into space!

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/te...ght_040513.html

[Neova]

Hah!

They beat John Carmack's team to space! Good! Now JC can focus working on Doom 3.

[Mr March]

Great news! The more private explorations into space the better. We'll get there faster and it will encourage competition again.

[Knight26]

Great news! The more private explorations into space the better. We'll get there faster and it will encourage competition again.

Exactly, private space flight is the way to go. Come on Burt get space ship one up to 100km as soon as you safely can, give everyone else a swift kick to the ass.

[Vostok 7]

I know a guy on the SS1/White Knight team so I know lots of secrets

Vostok 7

[the white drew carey]

This is great!

I prefer the amatuer leagues because these guys don't sell out for Nike endorsements like those NASA folk.

[Knight26]

This is great!

I prefer the amatuer leagues because these guys don't sell out for Nike endorsements like those NASA folk.

What Nike endorsement are you talking about? Heck I look forward to the day that I see a spacecraft launch with a big old nike swoosh or adidas tri-stripe on the side.

[Skull Leader]

This excites me... I wanna see space so bad... but I don't want to join NASA to do it...

[Apollo Leader]

Here's the Assocaiated Press story posted at space.com

http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/csxt_...ess_040518.html

[Commander McBride]

I know a guy on the SS1/White Knight team so I know lots of secrets

Vostok 7

Man, you better not go all Quadrano639 on us.......

[JsARCLIGHT]

I guess this puts them one step closer to lasering a giant Nike swoosh into the moon, building a huge floating Taco Bell billboard visible from space or generally raping space in the name of corporate greed like we know they will.

At least when space flight was dominated by nations you had honor, nobility and courage. Nasa and the Soviets ignoring the cold war and linking up in orbit...

... now all we have to look forward to is the McDonnaldland space station, the Escallade moon SUV and the Sony Moonman.

Bitter? Nooooooooooo.

[Vostok 7]

I know a guy on the SS1/White Knight team so I know lots of secrets 

Vostok 7

Man, you better not go all Quadrano639 on us.......

AAAaaaahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

:lol: :lol:

Vostok 7

[Lightning]

if this keeps up we're gonna have corporate sponsorships on Race Vehicles in space, racing on a "track" around the earth...

[Commander McBride]

Hey! I, for one, think that that would be really cool!

[007-vf1]

I know a guy on the SS1/White Knight team so I know lots of secrets

Vostok 7

Oh no; here we go again with the "I know something that you don't" tread...

[Zentrandude]

I guess this puts them one step closer to lasering a giant Nike swoosh into the moon, building a huge floating Taco Bell billboard visible from space or generally raping space in the name of corporate greed like we know they will.

At least when space flight was dominated by nations you had honor, nobility and courage. Nasa and the Soviets ignoring the cold war and linking up in orbit...

... now all we have to look forward to is the McDonnaldland space station, the Escallade moon SUV and the Sony Moonman.

Bitter? Nooooooooooo.

you might be right. I always wondered about can anyone claim a planet/moon/asteroid as their own and make money off them by selling/mining/ect...

i better make my own rocketship and claim mercury so i can start my instant tanning service shop.

[Apollo Leader]

Here's some pictures (I presume taken on Sunday or ealy on Monday) that are posted at www.rockethigh.com

If I get the chance, tomorrow or Friday, I'll see if I can identify anyone (I think Ky Michaelson is in the last picture standing next to the rocket and tower).

[Apollo Leader]

My friend Tony Cochran (you'll see the name Bruce Lee in here, too; he's the president of our rocket group here in Nebraska) was involved with the CSXT launch. He just got back to Colorado today. He sent this e-mail to me and all of the members of THOR that are here in SE Nebraska and elsewhere:

All,

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 seperate pinging signals, indicating a successful

seperation 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. For you younger people, the pictures can't

be downloaded from my camera, it has this old technology called "film",

which has to be "developed" first before you can see the pictures. 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.

see you in June at Nebraska Heat maybe,

Tony

Edited May 20, 2004 by Apollo Leader

[Apollo Leader]

Finally, in the days or weeks ahead, if I can get any pictures of anything that was aboard this rocket or even part of this historic rocket, I'll post them here.

[kanata67]

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.

Hey ladies... my jock strap has been is space... want to touch it