A successfull day at Okome Space Center.

I had to go up really early... around 10. Stepped up from bed around 11. Had some breakfast. Ran around looking for things to wear and food to eat. Suddenly, a red volvo outside waiting for me.

Grabbed my rocket (which I didn't have time to inspect), my umbrella and skipped out of the door. So there they were, Robert and Jimmy. Some really nice chaps. Shook hands and met Roberts girl and their absolutely gorgeous baby. It's what I usually say... We're here to ignite enthusiasm in people. Hopefully she'll get some great childhood memories and join the rocket society some day.

Took a short break near Ullared? (I suck at geography) well at least a few minutes from the launch site and grabbed some quick lunch. Rostbiff and potato salad in my case. Yum! Only it wasn't very comfortable to sit on a cold wooden bench and feel the chill from the wind biting my cheek.

We got to the spot where the GPS told us we were supposed to be. Not a soul in sight, so I called the launch officer Kn1 and he told me he'll be there in 3 minutes. He was good to his word. There he was in a company of a few ppl next to a black van just about 100 m away. Jumped in the car again and met the guys.






A number of handshakes later we got down to business. We had a round robin schedule of sorts. Kn1 flew a large rocket which landed just in front of the edge of the wood. After a few successful flights the turn came to me and my ol' trusted Betty... the Python. But alas, the igniter failed. A stupid igniter (high failrate on this brand (you know which I'm talking about)).
Anywho... had to wait for 5 mins just to discover that the head of the igniter was still inside. What to do? Well.. better dig it down in the soil. So while cooling down we had some really nice launches. Check these out:





Here's Robert's Ariane X1. Flew really nice. Think it was an E15 in that one right? There were at least two or maybe three late separations in this event. This was one. But we didn't have any crash landing. Guess we appeased the rocket god somehow.

Here's another late separation. If I'm not mistaken, this is Jimmy's quickbuild with a C-engine. Took him one day to build it. Amazing!

This rocket is a bit faster though. :)


This one is also pretty quick.


This one is really rad. Check out that smoke plume. :D


The following is a pretty small rocket on a G79 (did I hear that right?).


This is Dreamy Boom Boom isn't it? It sure sounds like it. :)



The last launch was mine however. Pushed the button. Nothing happens... one of my fellow rocketeers went forward and improved the connection to the igniter.

Ok.. lets do this again. Here comes nothing. I pushed the button and held it for a little while... realeased it, nothing happens. Pushed the button again, held it, and... nothing... no wait! There's something bubbling over there. Wow! It really flew (despite the igniter (you know which)).
However, the chock cord that I fixed broke during separation. I need kevlar stuff next time. Oh well. Good thing the rocket came down in one piece. No wait.. two pieces. :D
















Now time for the famous rocket-pizza which we've all longed for!

.... Figures! Just discovered when I got home that my camera bag was missing. It's probably still out there on the field.... missing the company of my camera :_(. Oh well.. good thing those cards were empty and I didn't forget the camera itself.

Look forward to next launch in May...