Flight 1a Flight 2a Flight 2b Flight 2c Flight 2d Flight 2e Flight 3a Flight 3b

Flight 1A (crash) report

XPRS Flight video  WMV

The escape (video) tower break away sequence

Astronaut: GI Joe

Motor: AMW K1075 GG

Goals

  • Test free fall system for the Capsule

  • Video capture the flight from 3 cameras

  • Test tower recovery system

Results

  • AMW motor was fantastic and was prepared by Woody of  Woody's Pro-X Hardware (THANKS!)

  • We used a new launch rail that had a gimbal lock (for pad rotation) we didn't know about. The lock wasn't tight and subsequently the pad twisted 20 degrees on launch. This bent the rail buttons and caused the rocket's ascent to be way slower than needed to establish stability, so once it cleared the tower it started a hard arc to the east.

  • The on-board camera's custom cable failed at the last minute so there wasn't any cockpit footage recorded. (in the video, all the cockpit footage was created pre and post flight).

  • The escape (video) tower was not designed to take the stress from an angled ascent so it sheared off, taking along with it the capsule's nose cap, parachute ejection charge and drogue chute. Thankfully, the video gear and most of the tower was undamaged from the incident.

  • The (stable flying) rocket continued to rise in a slow arc but was flying almost horizontal, at maybe 1000' off the ground.

  • The G-Wiz detected a point of apogee and blew the capsule off. It free-fell as planned but couldn't deploy its parachute due to the tower incident so the capsule impacted with the playa, causing tons of structural damage. GI Joe and all on-board electronics were undamaged. (Really a shame we didn’t have the on-board cockpit camera working.)

  • The parachute for the booster deployed properly and the booster "stuck" the landing, ready to fly again - except for the bent rail buttons. ("Stuck" means it was standing up.)

 

Ready for the maiden voyage!Tightening down the Tower hold down strapsCapsule is strapped in and ready!Fitting her on to that new rail

Well, it looks like it should be goodTurning everything on - we're good to go!Little trouble getting off the launch padThe launch pad twists and causes the rocket to stickThe Tower can't take the strain and breaks off

Booster sticks the landing!Tower is in pretty good shape considering the fallCapsule is not as bad as it could be,

Any landing you can walk away from...We can rebuild her...