Hi Paul Interesting! I see you were also a rocketeer ! In my University days I played around with amateur rocketry and it was great fun. We used zinc dust and sulphur basically and just before the Rocket Society folded we were busy with the construction of a liquid fuel rocket aiming for around 50 miles altitude - we took it all very seriously and were subject to strict government regulations etc -- in fact what with amateur rocketry and visual satellite tracking it cost me an extra year at Varsity! - never had time even to chase those adorable entities called woman ! Fortunately we never had any accidents but did cause fires when rockets malfunctioned and came down under power and burnt the grasslands! In one case a two stage rocket flew was flying horizontally at low altitude when the stages seperated spewing burning fuel everywhere and caused a LARGE fire! Incidentally our largest rocket was 10 feet long but fouled the launch tower as it left the top of the tower because the exhaust velocity was just too low and it caused the rocket to do slow somersaults directly above us - we had no idea in which direction to scatter so stayed put and it eventually returned to earth about a mile from the launch tower - quite scary! Cheers Greg ----- Original Message ----- From: "paul" <astro@pgog.net> To: <SeeSat-L@satobs.org> Cc: <dsat@smartgroups.com> Sent: Sunday, October 06, 2002 8:34 PM Subject: [dsat] new launch > Houston Chronicle - 14 hours ago > After a 3 1/2-hour wind delay, a private company successfully launched a 14-foot rocket Saturday night from a remote site on arid West Texas ranchland that organizers are calling Texas' newest spaceport. > > where's the TLE ?? > > oppsss! > The 50 or so people gathered for the launch cheered when the slim white rocket blasted off, then roared again when it came down five minutes later with a parachute. > > sounds like what my son & I did once in nearby open field with > a 2 foot rocket, we did not get a TLE either. > > > -- > If you want to share pictures, use the calendar, or start a vote > visit http://www.smartgroups.com/groups/dsat > > To leave the group, email: dsat-unsubscribe@smartgroups.com ----------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with 'unsubscribe' in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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