Rocketry weekend

Rocketry weekend — Friday–Sunday, April 23–25, 2004

DiscoveryBound members recently had the privilege of sitting in on an all-day, hands-on course in rocketry, taught by Kim Arnold.
Students at the three-day event assembled the rockets at Manatee Hammock, south of Titusville, and launced them at Big Oaks Ranch, in Chuluota.

Thanks tons, Kim!

Geoff and Shaun reinforce the fins with glue.

Instructor Kim Arnold demonstrates how to roll the nose cone, which ends up looking like a dunce hat. After a few practice rolls, glue gets liberally applied all over the paper, so tracing the edges, as Kimberly does below, helps to get it right.

Kim’s daughter, Mariah, was a great help to the professor, assisting with rocket assembly, and later helping to set up the launch site.

Always on the lookout for new funding, we are offering this photo to the marketing department at Sprite. No word yet, but we know they’re impressed.

Last stage at Manatee Hammock — painting the rockets and applying stickers.

Left,, Kayleigh with a newfound caterpillar friend. Right, a stowaway on a rocket tube! Anyone who can correctly identify this insect wins. ... uh ... Kayleigh’s caterpillar.

Kim shows Geoff how to view the sun through Geoff’s new telescope.
Below is what we saw on the white board—the sun, with visible sunspots!

Generally speaking, rockets take off vertically, while kids take off horizontally, as they chase the fallen mailing tubes. Throughout the day, all but one rocket went the right way; and it, alas, dissected itself on the pad.
Part of one rocket could not be found, as it landed in the trees.

As Shaun stands by with the “Neptune V,” Kim adds the engine.

Proud owners show off post-flight rockets.

Some of the rocket people held an informal church service at the Manatee Hammock waterfront.

And some attended Sunday School at the Cocoa church, and held still long enough for a photo with the regular students.

The Cocoa church, shown at left, overlooks the Indian River, as does Manatee Hammock.

Photographs by Ken Tarboton and Mark Spain.
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