Thor

We had a 1400 blue load to burn, but I wanted to be sure and burn my K350 for the case first, just in case the blue was a bit more aggressive than planned. So we loaded up the Thor and put her on the pad. The flight was normal until about 1000' up, when an apparently loose payload section wobbled a bit and caused the rocket to draw a few spirals in the air. This limited the maximum altitude, but the flight still ejected safely and returned to Earth under a SkyAngle 44" classic chute.

I took and passed my L2 test immediately following my L1; Rck O'Neill administered the test in the back of the ROC trailer. For the Level 2 flight, I elected to go with a Cesaroni J285, since I already had one on hand, and it would easily allow me to trim the delay to the desired length. The Thor was readied in single-deploy mode using the same SkyAngle chute as I had put in the LOC IV previously (for good luck? really not sure), but misfortune struck when I opened the J285 to adjust the delay and found delay potting resin goo all over the reload. Luckily, Andy Woerner at What's Up Hobbies volunteered to trade for a new one, so a few minutes later we were back in business. I loaded the rocket on Pad 39A and passed the camera to Eric Williams to take photos. Allen Farrington called out the countdown and I hit the launch button. The J285 sprang to life and lifted the Thor gracefully up the 13 foot rail. Ejection happened at apogee and the rocket floated down, landing near the far pads. Successful L2!

It was time for the long-anticipated first flight of the Thor. The blue and yellow bird had a 1400 Ns fast K700 packed into the motor mount tube, and my standard ARTS/RRC avionics package. Eric and I slid the rocket on the rail and installed a Thermite igniter, designed to get the rocket moving and up to speed fast. After a quick check for aircraft (none visible), we gave the count and hit the button. INSTANTLY the K700 came online and ripped the Thor skyward... so fast, in fact, that my dad (holding the camera) jumped backwards and dropped the video camera after liftoff. (Watch it, it's hilarious.) The rocket continued on an absolutely straight course, with very little roll. After burnout, it seemed to "sail" with all that fin area as it approached apogee. At ejection, something violent happened, as the shear pins on the nose cone broke and released the main at apogee. Dangit, 2/2 on main at apogee in the past two flights. Oh well. We watched it drift out and land about 1/2 mile away, easily visible on the playa. The altimeters were happily beeping out 5245 feet... just under a mile. Not bad for a first flight!