I happened to stumble upon this hobby by accident when I was in third grade. Looking for a Christmas present at the Navy Exchange (NAS Jax). I was a big model airplane fan so when I saw a model of the Space Shuttle, I just had to get it.
When I was putting it together, it started to become apparent that the model was not just suppose to sit on your desk or hang from the bedroom ceiling. There was a launcher, and some solid rocket engines. I thought this was the coolest thing ever!!
Well, the time finally came that we went out to a deserted field (which my dad owns now as part of the farm) to launch the Space Shuttle. We put the shuttle on the railing guide, hooked up the wires to the igniter, armed the launcher, and started the countdown. When I pushed the launch button, the engine came to live in a sound of fury, and the shuttle took off, faster than I had expected.
As with all model rockets, once it reaches the peak, the parachute is ejected and the rocket drifts down to the ground, but if I recall correctly, I don't think the ejection worked properly, but the shuttle survived.
Fast forward to now. I had built a rocket, called the "Big Daddy", back in 2003. For some reason, I have never launched it until now. But look at the following sequence of pictures. Quite the launch.
These were the launch off the pad. The rest are the parachute ejection and recovery.
I'm grateful for this hobby and that I'm back into it again.
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