The launch took place Saturday, May 18, at the SLUH football stadium adjacent to the Science Center. Weather was hot and windy - the temperature was in the 90's and the wind was 15-20 mph, getting worse later in the day. After several test launches to check the wind, the launch officially started at 2 pm. Several Space Shuttle astronauts were present, and we had one of them give the countdown for the first launch. It was a successful flight, and received a good round of applause.
In the next two hours, we launched a total of 74 rockets, mostly the kids' Alpha IIIs and Generics. Given the field and conditions, I'd call the launch a fantastic success. Certainly the kids seemed thrilled to see their rockets fly, and I think some will continue in rocketry. I didn't see a single ignition failure among the kids' rockets, though we 'experienced' rocketeers had a couple of failures. And, despite the high wind and small field, by reefing the parachutes we had nearly all the rockets come down on the field.
Jeff Brundt and the Wilfongs, Rich and Jim, put together a great static display featuring their own scale models plus some high power rockets and hardware from other members. They also made demo flights with their scale models, including the V-2, Atlas-Agena, Mercury Atlas, and X-15. Sadly, Jeff's beautiful Mercury Atlas was a casualty to the wind - powered by a D12, it made a slow liftoff, blew downwind even as it was climbing, and drifted out into the highway in the path of a car. Rob Truelowe's Skywinder was also lost, arcing severely into the wind and coming down on a rooftop.
A crew from the Science Fiction Channel filmed some of the activities, including the launch, for a documentary on the X-Prize which is to air later this year.
Following the launch, we received hearty praise from the Science Center and St. Louis Space Frontiers people involved. We got some very good exposure. It was a big undertaking, and lots of our members worked hard to make it a success:
Jeff Brundt - Planning, Launch Dave Daven - Planning, Launch Jim Davis - Planning, Workshops, Launch Mark Geislinger - Planning, Workshops, Launch Mike Gitcho - Workshops, Launch Larry Lutes - Launch Heino Pull - Planning, Workshops, Launch Gary Raley - Planning, Workshops, Launch Tim Schaiff - Planning, Workshops, Launch John Sullivan - Planning, Workshops, Launch Rich Tabor - Planning, Workshops, Launch Bruce Weidner - Planning, Launch Jim Wilfong - Planning, Launch Rich Wilfong - Planning, Launch
In particular, Dave Daven, Ron Divine, and Bruce Weidner produced a great- looking club brochure on a very tight schedule for distribution at the launch. Jeff Brundt and the Wilfongs bravely risked their scale models to make flights in the windy conditions, and Jeff's Atlas made the ultimate sacrifice. The Wilfongs presented John Wharton of the Science Center with a very nice scale model of the Science Center's Black Brant VIII; he seemed quite impressed. He seems interested in undertaking further joint activities later this year.