Puts my Estes "Eggscalibur" model rocket to shame...

[Doc]

http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/2829/30/

On April 25, 2009, history will be made. At Higgs Farm in Price, Maryland, Steve Eves will enter the history books as the person who flew the largest model rocket in history. The rocket will weigh over 1,600 pounds, it will stand over 36 feet tall and it will be powered by a massive array of nine motors: eight 13,000ns N-Class motors and a 77,000ns P-Class motor. The estimated altitude of this single stage effort will be between 3,000 and 4,000 feet and the project will be recovered at apogee.

[-jeffB]

The estimated altitude of this single stage effort will be between 3,000 and 4,000 feet and the project will be recovered at apogee.

How is that going to work? Are they going to swoop down and grab it from an airplane?

("apogee" = "the point farthest from the Earth" )
("recovered" = ???)

[Doc]

Term of art. The recovery mechanism deploys at the pinnacle.

If you read the article, there's a description of how he rigged it to pop open and deploy the chutes. There's quadruple redundancy.

[wolfcry911]

when does a model rocket no longer be a model?

[AAA]

Yeah, not a model.
We'd be up in arms with Cuba over this.

[cbelt3]

It's referred to as amateur rocketry.
Da Rules from Da Gummint

Specifically:
(a) You must operate an amateur rocket in such a manner that it:

(1) Is launched on a suborbital trajectory;

(2) When launched, must not cross into the territory of a foreign country unless an agreement is in place between the United States and the country of concern;

(3) Is unmanned; and

(4) Does not create a hazard to persons, property, or other aircraft.

(b) The FAA may specify additional operating limitations necessary to ensure that air traffic is not adversely affected, and public safety is not jeopardized.

[Doc. No. FAA–2007–27390, 73 FR 73781, Dec. 4, 2008]

[davester]

Too bad it's in Maryland or I'd be there. In my errant college days a group of friends and I were building rockets. I built a 6-foot tall Saturn V. The 1st stage was powered by 5 "D" engines and the 2nd stage (which was ignited using an electric relay) had a single "D". It didn't fly very high (just a few hundred feet) but it made a tremendous amount of noise and smoke and was a sight to see. Amazingly all of the 1st stage engines lit simultaneously and it flew beautifully. We also built some high altitude rockets. We lost them all. They went up out of sight even with binoculars and drifted off on their parachutes to who knows where.

[sunfalcon]

I use to have a bunch of model rockets - the Mean Machine was a favorite - over six feet tall and looked like a big pencil going up in the sky. I also had a Phoenix rocket that was modeled after an air-to-air missile. I rigged up a light in the nose cone so we could launch at night and then follow the light. Rockets launching at night are pretty cool. We also use to take a dixie cup with water and put it under the rocket motor so when it launched, it made a bunch of steam.

I remember blowing up my space shuttle in honor of the Challenger.

Fun times with the Big Foot launch pad!