Vidroc DMC jr. on a two stage Omega booster
with the first stage a three motor cluster. A single D12-0 for the main motor and 2 C6-3s
for the boosters. Flown at the LUNAR
May 18th launch in Livermore California. Had
to have the lovely Jeanne O'Lone
pose with this bird because...well, it's not the most attractive rocket in
the fleet. (at least not the camera section) |
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All 3 first stage motors ignite! |
Under thrust and heading into the wind |
Staging begins, note boosters pulling away
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Nice shot of the first stage falling away
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First stage about to deploy its parachute
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First Stage (off camera) ejection charges on the C6-3s blowing simultaneously.
The booster only had one chute and it opened so fast it broke the shock
cord, regardless the first stage landed with minimal damage.
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Nice view of Livermore from up here! Mission accomplished, let's head
back.
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Here's the main ejection charge and chute deployment, unfortunately the
chute popped a few shroud lines when it opened and the rocket spiraled in
way too fast. (if you've watched the video, you know)
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Here's a shot of the the rocket's shadow as it was coming down. Note the
odd shape of the chute's shadow.
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My only hope was to catch the rocket, here I am trying to position myself
under the fast moving target. Note: Normally catching a descending rocket
is not appropriate behavior, in cases like this it was necessary.
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Victory! This shadow shows I was successful. If I hadn't caught it,
there was a good chance it would have landed too hard and possibly lost
the video footage.
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You'd be smiling too! Time to go download the footage to the laptop.
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Back on the ground, video downloaded to the laptop and
ready for some minor repairs. |