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December 2nd update-It's too cold to launch,
but I've built another oddball, the Flying
Jenny, a rocket powered biplane. After launch, the engine
ejects and the Jenny will glide to Earth (I hope!!)
10/26 update-Our next Oddball Rocket
is a "Sputnik"!
That's what got the October Sky rocket boys started. It's a fairly
simple design, using a styrofoam ball and some dowels, and will
feature "tumble recovery" (the engine ejects, throwing
off the balance of the rocket which tumbles freely to earth).
Estes never offered this as a kit, but they did publish plans
in a hobby newsletter. The
plans are on-line at "JimZ's site".
9/5/99-The mystery rocket is a Cherry
Coke bottle! This "bottle rocket" uses
a plastic drinking straw for it's launch lug (keeps it on the
launch rod), clear plexiglass fins to help it fly straight, and
a 12" parachute for recovery. |
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Septmeber 5, 1999:
On the pad and ready for it's first flight. It flew once on
an A8-3 engine, but only ~20 feet into the air! The chute opened
~5 feet off the ground, and one fin came loose. We taped that
in place (yes, I KNOW it's not stable that way), and launched
again using a C5-3 engine (below right).
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Here it is in flight with a C5-3 engine. Estimated altitude
was ~110 meters (~340 feet)!!! The chute opened successfully,
and it glided down to a semi-gentle landing. Another fin came
loose, so we didn't try launching it again. The fins have
been reglued, and it's ready for another flight!
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![The ORIGINAL Sputnik satellite](sputnik1sm.gif)
My next project is a Sputnik.
Yep, that's what got Homer Hickham started with rockets, and
now I'm working on building one myself.
Estes used to make plans available to hobbyists with via a
monthly magazine, and one of those from 1964 contained plans
to build a "Sputnik Too" using a 3 inch styrofoam
ball, wooden dowels, and an engine mount. The idea is to get
it up, then have the engine eject and allow the "rocket"
to execute what's called a "featherweight tumble recovery".....
In other words, the engine will eject (instead of a nose cone
& parachute assembly, as with conventional model rockets),
then the "Sputnik Too" will tumble to Earth "gently".
- Here are
the plans on JimZ's site (it's available as at "TIF"
graphic file, which you should save then open in a graphic
editor like Microsoft Imaging; e-mail me if you have problems
opening the document & I'll send you a version you can
read).
- Here's
an article from the New York Times about the 40th anniversary
of Sputnik (complete with an audio
clip of the beeping sound heard around the world!).
- Here's
a great site from NASA about Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space
Age
- Here's a brief history of Sputnik, from the Encyclopaedia
Brittanica:
Sputnik - any of a series of artificial
Earth satellites whose launching by the Soviet Union beginning
on Oct. 4, 1957, inaugurated the Space Age. Sputnik 1, the
first satellite launched by man, was a 184-pound (83.6-kilogram)
capsule. It achieved an Earth orbit with an apogee (farthest
point from Earth) of 584 miles (942 km) and a perigee (nearest
point) of 143 miles (230 km), circling the Earth every 96
minutes and remaining in orbit until early 1958 when it fell
back and burned in the Earth's atmosphere. Sputnik 2 carried
the dog Laika, the first living creature to be shot into space
and orbit the Earth. Eight more Sputnik missions with similar
satellites carried out experiments on a variety of animals
to test spacecraft life-support systems; they also tested
reentry procedures and furnished data on space temperatures,
pressures, particles, radiation, and magnetic fields.
(Don't worry, I'm not going to try launching any dogs!)
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The
Flying Jenny, an Estes rocket glider....
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Estes used to sell a Space
Plane. They also provided free plans in 1964 to a "Flying
Jenny" (rocket boosted glider). Plans for both are
on-line. They fly to ~300 feet under rocket power on an A or
B engine, then glide back to Earth (in theory).
The Jenny is a rocket powered biplane. I painted mine Bright
Red, with a black underside of the bottom wing, to
help spot it. It's
ready to launch!
4/1/00 Update-Back
to the drawing board!
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![Larry's Jenny, 12/99](Jenny1299.JPG) |
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