The location for this launch was the Rustic Hills North shopping center in Colorado Springs, located at the north-east corner of the intersection of Academy and Palmer Park Boulevards.
The event was a Spring demonstration launch put on by the Skywatchers / ROMAR rocket club.
This annual affair was sponsored by the Ru-Jan Party and Hobby Shop, which was located in the strip mall on the north side of the parking lot.
I had brought along my Delta II / Astrocam tandem to fly at this event in the hopes of getting a good aerial photo of the demo site.
I should have known better, but I decided to fly the bird on a B14-5 engine (some of you old BARs might remember these).
After a little bit of Public Address fanfare, asking the spectators to "smile for the camera!", the model was launched.
The Delta II boosted straight up to a respectable altitude, arched over, and began a screaming ballistic descent toward the parking lot!
It was then that I realized that a 5 second delay is pretty darn long.
I watched as the model streaked closer and closer to what I was sure would be its spectacular demise...
Then...POP...off went the ejection charge...maybe a mere fifty feet above the asphalt!
The parachute deployed immediately, and lowered the model for a gentle landing. It's a good thing the 'chute was equipped with over-the-canopy shroud lines or it could have easily been shredded by the heavy model traveling at a high velocity.
Here is the photograph snapped by the Astrocam...
This is a good shot of what might have become the camera's final 'parking spot' !!
To this day, I still have not been able to identify the mysterious object resting in one of the adjacent spots.
Cheers!
