The rocketry team traveled to St. Albans, Vermont for an eventful winter launch! Braving freezing temperatures and subzero windchill, we launched five of our custom-built rockets. Two members received their NAR L2 certifications on flights to about 3,000 feet. Another two members attempted their L1 certification; one flight succeeded, but the other rocket lost a fin when it landed on the frozen ground. A final L2 certification attempt saw one of our rockets fly to about 6,600 feet, but a failure of the dual-deploy system resulted in a ballistic descent, and we were unable to recover the rocket.
This launch allowed us to improve our parachute packing skills (we had a 100% parachute opening rate, compared to about 70% at our previous launch), validate airframe construction strategies (the frozen ground presented the worst-case scenario for landing), and improve our pre-launch flow. We’ll be back again in the spring with more certification attempts, as well as our team rocket!
