Alas, the big day came. After the last semester exam, my friends and I made our way to a farm field where we began to set everything up for our launch. Kate’s rocket came first, and it had a pretty good launch. Unfortunately, on its way down the parachute broke away from the rocket. Both the nose cone and shaft immediately fell down and the parachute was carried by the wind to a wooded area where it could not be recovered.
Despite the early problems, I decided to proceed with my launch anyway…which turned out the be a mistake. It didn’t really occur to me, or at least I didn’t really care, that a clear parachute, a silver rocket, and a bunch of clouds don’t mix too well. Well, I launched the rocket and it FLEW off the stand. It was pointed into the wind, but the wind didn’t really affect its path from what I could see. After the rocket disapeared into the cloud, everyone lost sight of it and we never saw it again. The area was searched but to no avail. Did my parachute work? The world may never know.
Conclusion: Inconclusive
In memory of my 5th grade rocket that is now missing in action, I have included several photographs taken the week prior to launch.
After this fateful launch I was struck by inspiration to make my own rocket from scratch — a big orange one that would never be lost in the clouds! Lemonade was made from the lemons of the day, and Project II: Scratch Rocket was born.
