Launching Into the October Sky
By Lucas Utley
This weekend Cowboy RocketWorks finished out homecoming by spending Sunday in Argonia, KS for their October Fun Fly launch. This was the first chance for our members to attempt certification flights, and we put up almost two dozen flights over the course of the day!
Most of us met at 6:00 that morning to arrive at the Rocket Pasture before the 9:00 waiver opened. Despite rain the evening before, the skies were pristine and autumn was certainly upon us. After an hour or two of prep, we loaded up the first salvo with six of our rockets. Despite some initially unsuccessful certification attempts, many tried again and had great flights. Samantha Huckabay, Bret Valenzuela, Jake Rosario, Austin Stottlemyre, Nicholas Rozell, Thomas Coulon, Cole Henderson, and Shawn Ray all achieved Level 1 Certification. Bret Valenzuela also achieved his Level 2 Certification on a J250FJ motor.
Justin Kattchee did a test flight on Maverick in advance of his Level 3 Certification.
Lucas Utley ended the day with his Level 3 Certification with Odyssey II on an M1315W. It flew to 14117 feet reaching a top speed of 1199 mph (Mach 1.56) and landed more than a mile away.
Over the course of the day we had ten successful Level 1 Certification attempts, one Level 2 Certification, and one Level 3 Certification. We burned $1159 worth of motors and 18.7 pounds of propellant. At 15,219 N-s, or the equivalent of a single “N” motor, of total impulse burned, it was quite the day for Cowboy RocketWorks! We’re already getting ready for our next launch on November 11th and 12th!