History in my Hands..

[Apollo Leader]

I'm three weeks late with this post, but better late then never.

A month before Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne became the first manned civilan aircraft to reach space, Ky Michaelson's CSXT became the first unmanned civilian rocket to reach space.

One of the CSXT team members was Bruce W. Lee who just also happens to head up our model/high power rocketry group here in southeast Nebraska.

Since Bruce has been good friends with Ky for a while now, Ky has let Bruce borrow the payload/nosecone section for the past month. The fin canister/motor section has yet to be found though it's presumed to have buried itself deep underground.

At our monthly meeting back on July 6th, Bruce brought it in for all to see.

First of all, here's me holding it... I believe the whole package here was about 85 pounds so it's a little on the heavy side.

[Apollo Leader]

A closeup of the paint job. Almost all of the black paint burnt off from the rocket reaching a peak speed of over Mach 5.5

[Knight26]

Very Nice Man, what altitude did it reach?

[Apollo Leader]

When the payload section landed on the rocky side of a nearby mountain near the Black Rock Desert, it was going about 80 to 100 mph (it used a small parachute). The force bent the steel tip of the nosecone.

[Apollo Leader]

Very Nice Man, what altitude did it reach?

Over 77 miles up. Space begins at 62.

[VF19]

Damn.

Edited July 30, 2004 by VF19

[Apollo Leader]

The reset of the nosecone was made from two pieces of machined aluminum. The nose was anodized red... other then some fading, the anodization job held up much better then the paint. The big scratches to the nose were from when it landed in the rocks.

[Apollo Leader]

Just under the lip of the payload's shoulder can be seen two detonators. Instead of using an ejection charge, some explosives were used to sever the payload section from the bottom.

[ewilen]

Somehow this is more cool to me than the X-Prize stuff.

How much did it cost to put that baby into space?

And are there any plans to try for orbit?

[Apollo Leader]

Here was the CSXT's payload section before flight.

Edited July 30, 2004 by Apollo Leader

[Apollo Leader]

Somehow this is more cool to me than the X-Prize stuff.

How much did it cost to put that baby into space?

And are there any plans to try for orbit?

Including the failed 2000 and 2002 attempts, I believe somewhere in excess of $100,000 has gone into this project including all donations and sponsorships. The Discovery Channel will be airing a presentation on the CSXT and Ky Michaelson this fall.

As for orbital plans, Ky is out, but some of the other team members are talking about it though it will probably be a fair number of years until that happens.

[Apollo Leader]

Here it was before flight.

Edited July 30, 2004 by Apollo Leader

[Apollo Leader]

Liftoff! 21 foot tall CSXT heads up to space.

[Apollo Leader]

And here's where the payload section landed.

Edited July 30, 2004 by Apollo Leader

[Guppy]

Congratulations! That's an impressive achivement. Great pics, too!

[the white drew carey]

Is that a civilian rocket in your hands, or are you just happy to see me?

[Apollo Leader]

Is that a civilian rocket in your hands, or are you just happy to see me?

Ha!

[Guppy]

You should enter your rocket into the Smithsonian Institute! http://www.nasm.si.edu/

.. or make a huge codpiece out of it. whichever you prefer!

[Yohsho]

And here's where the payload section landed.

How deep is that into the ground?

[Retracting Head Ter Ter]

Excellent stuff! Two thumbs up. With all the news spotlight on Rutan, I didnt hear about this.

I really wonder, if they just grabbed like 5 NASA guys and told em to do something like this right here, right now, would they be able to do it for anything less then $100m?

[Solscud007]

wow that is so cool.

[McKlown]

I'm a bit confused, how did it survive re-entry without burning up?

[ewilen]

Please post a heads up when the Discovery show is going to air.

[do not disturb]

wow! thats quite the accomplishment. i hope in my lifetime i can take a trip into space or atleast participate in something as cool as launching rockets....rockets are cool!

[Lindem Herz]

I'm a bit confused, how did it survive re-entry without burning up?

Same reason that the SpaceShipOne didn't.

When they hit the (dense) atmosphere again, they are flying only at Mach 5 or so, instead of the shuttle's (or anything that goes orbital for that matter) Mach 25 .

That's a lot less energy that transforms into heat.

[Apollo Leader]

I'm a bit confused, how did it survive re-entry without burning up? 

Same reason that the SpaceShipOne didn't.

When they hit the (dense) atmosphere again, they are flying only at Mach 5 or so, instead of the shuttle's (or anything that goes orbital for that matter) Mach 25 .

That's a lot less energy that transforms into heat.

Actually I think it only reaches about Mach 2.5. Furthermore, they got that shuttlecock recovery arrangement to help lower it.

[Apollo Leader]

Please post a heads up when the Discovery show is going to air.

Will do.

[Apollo Leader]

You should enter your rocket into the Smithsonian Institute! http://www.nasm.si.edu/

.. or make a huge codpiece out of it. whichever you prefer!

Actually that might be apossibility. I understand that an effort will be made soon to look for the bottom section soon, but if it's buried underground and since it didn't have a GPS transmitter, that might be quite difficult.

[Apollo Leader]

And here's where the payload section landed.

How deep is that into the ground?

Only about the length of the nose cone (a few feet). If it hadn't landed in something hard, it would have been buried deeper and that may have effected the GPS transmission. The payload section was located a day after the flight.