This past week I had the opportunity to get out to Dove Valley Park in Centennial, Colorado for a rocket launch. One of the flights on the mission agenda was a video camera launch.
The camera was attached to a Quest Big Rage booster with strips of electrical tape. The model was launched on a C6-5 motor and recovered via a 14 inch parachute. Estimated altitude of the flight falls in the 500-600 foot range.
Following are a few of the more interesting still shots I pulled out of the video:
 |
| An aerial shot of me at the launch controller following liftoff. Oops, got a cursor arrow in there from the image clip! |
 |
| An image from higher up which includes the rest of the gang of BARs present at the launch site. Left to right are Lee Reep, Debi Reep, Roy Houchin, and Jim Gazur. I'm confident that they are all waving and saying "Cheese" ! |
 |
| A good image of a park pavilion and walking paths. This and the next frame are near the point when the model was reaching apogee and beginning to arc over. |
 |
| A view showing a couple of park structures and an adjacent street. |
The remainder of the video was somewhat unremarkable as the camera was pointed toward the ground during the rocket's descent under the parachute. A lot of frames showing soccer field boundaries and goal nets wheeling around below.
On future 808 launches, I intend to rig the camera so that it hangs at around 45 degrees as it descends under the chute. This might make for some more interesting flight frames.
I also will be flying the camera in tandem with an altimeter. In this manner, I will be able to correlate individual still frames with the corresponding point in the recorded flight profile.
Here is a photo of the Big Rage / 808 payload on the pad for this launch:
More to come.....
