Rocket Man

It was early morn on the first Sunday of November that Sarah and I jumped into the trusty Subaru and headed westwards on our first foray into the world of amateur rocketeering.

The instructions for getting to the launch site were typically country: From the Barton Highway you turn left into Yass Valley road just past the Yass 5km sign. After about 4 kms you cross a small bridge. Turn left just past the bridge and proceed 1 km until you pass an old shearing shed. If you look up now you'll see a water tank on the crest of the hill. Enter the gate on the right just past the tank and you should see us somewhere out in the paddock.

We did as instructed and arrived without a hitch. Sure enough, once through the gate we spied a group cars and a small bunch of people standing on hill. We arrived and met John, Mark, Dave, Bruce and Hugh, all very friendly. Sheila was there too, but she seemed more interested in her crochet and mainly sat in the car

Alex was pleased to see us. He introduced his mate Cornelius and proudly showed the rocket they'd painstakingly assembled from a kit.

Pretty soon it was down to business. Alex and Cornelius (beard) were the first to be called, so out they went to the launch pad with Dave (chief launcher) to get things set. 

Dave showed them what to do and kept a watchful eye on proceedings.

Wires were connected and trailed back to the ignition box.

One last check, and with the authority of a NASA official, Dave called out: 'RANGE CLOSED'.

We duly retired 20 metres behind an imaginary line stretching from the launch table to 'the granite rock just past that cow'. 'Actually, what about the cows?' I asked, a little concerned that they were straying into the exclusion zone. 'They'll move soon enough', said Hugh, 'don't worry about them.'

Then came the official announcement - complete with stats: 'Our first launch today is the maiden flight of Alex Millar's new J1 rocket (that's it on the left - the black one is a J2) . This rocket is powered by a H1 engine and has a three second delay' (the time it takes after the engine ceases for the chute to open and bear the rocket gently back to earth). We're good for launch in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1'

There was a puff of white smoke and a loud s-s-s-h-h-h-hing sound as Alex's rocket rocket shot up. Sarah and I cheered and clapped enthusiastically peering heavenwards.

A few seconds later the engine cut out. We strained to keep sight of the speck high above us and counted quietly - 1 second - 2 seconds - 3 seconds... (alas, no sign of the chute) 4 seconds - 5 seconds - 6 seconds - 7 seconds... By now, it was clear that something was wrong. The rocket was plummeting earthwards and people started to scatter. Someone yelled, 'LOOK OUT!!!'. There was muffled THUD and the rocket ploughed into the ground, just missing a cow pat, about 5 metres from the crowd.

'Hmmmm, we call that a grass dart', said Dave, laconically, 'it's happened to all of us at some stage'.

And there is was, the J1 stuck in the dirt and looking slightly worse for wear. In fact, this maiden flight turned out to be its last.

Needless to say, there's something to be learnt from every disaster.

'I think the nose cone was a bit tight', said John. 'Yeah', said Dave, 'it's s'posed to come off quite easily, and then the chute pops out like so...'

Alex took it all with good humour, and even Sheila got out of the car to have a look. 

So, not quite the success we were hoping for but good fun anyway. On ya, Alex, your old man's proud of you! You're rocket may have crashed but it did miss us, and the cows. That has to be a good start.

 Alex now has a new rocket - a bright pink J8 with an H5 engine and a 4 second delay. It's bigger, brighter, faster and more powerful. 

And, with all his experience, what could possibly go wrong????