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My first Black Rock Experience
Submitted by Jodi Michaelson
In February of 1995, my husband Ky Michaelson and I purchased a copy
of High Power Rocketry at the local newsstand. If you know my husband, when
you talk rockets around him, you know that he gets excited very easily.
That excitement has not left our household to this day. I also love the
pure power of high powered rockets.
I have been with Ky for over six years and have watched many hours of
rocket videos, but the videos I've watched through the years featured rockets
that did not go straight up. They were Earth-bound rocket powered cars,
motorcycles, snowmobiles, go-carts and boats. My husband has been a true
ROCKETMAN. He has experimented with high power rockets for over 30 years
setting 72 state, national and international speed records with rocket powered
vehicles. The majority of the records are still in the books including the
fastest and quickest quarter mile in which Ky drove a rocket car 396 mph
in 3.72 seconds. This record was set 18 years ago and to this date it still
has not been broken. Ky even built a pair of rocket powered roller skates
that went over 52 mph.
I have never had the chance to experience the excitement of high power
rocketry until I joined TRIPOLI and was certified a year ago in March. All
that Ky could talk about was setting another record, only this time he wanted
to be the first civilian to launch a rocket into outer space. One thing
that Ky has taught me is independence and leadership, so when he said let's
build a rocket together, I said,"You build your...I'll build mine."
That's when I called Ron Urinsco. I told him what my plans were and he suggested
I use one of his new motors, a N4300 that has an average thrust of 975.7
pounds, total impulse of 2,385 pound-seconds, and a burn of almost three
seconds. With motor data in hand, I went to work.
The airframe was made out of 3" diameter seamless tubing with .125
wall 6061-T6511 aluminum. The fins were made out of the same material and
were .125 thick. The fins were welded onto the fin canister to prevent the
airframe from warping. I had our machinist fabricate a nifty little boat
tail for the end of the rocket to help cut down on drag. I used a ROCKETMAN
R4C chute with reinforced lines and a deployment bag for my recovery system.
I also used a Black Sky timer. After spending many hours polishing my rocket
nicknamed the J.D. Cruiser, I had a surprise for my husband. I told him
that I was using a much smaller motor than I really had because I was planning
on setting a women's worl altitude record and beating Frank Kosdon's record
of 37,793 feet.
After the rocket was completed, the real work began. We had to pack up
over 1,000 pounds of parachutes, video equipment, rockets and support equipment
and have it flown to Reno, Nevada from Minneapolis. Ky and I flew into Reno
and rented a U-haul truck. Then we went back to the airport and picked up
our support equipment.
Finally, Monday arrived. The big day I had been waiting for, FIREBALLS
005! We were assigned a spot a couple of miles away from the spectators
and began to set up our launch tower. This thing was more like an erector
set with its many machined parts being assembled. It stood 20 feet tall.
About thios time, the action started. One rocket after another blew up.
Some made it out of their launch towers and disintegrated while others blew
up on the pad.
It was Ky's turn to launch his rocket, the D.R. Hero, with
a total impulse of 84,000 NS and a burn time of 3.40 seconds. His 6"
diameter, 20', all-aluminum rocket sure looked beautiful in the launch tower,
but one second after it launched, the motor catoed scattering flaming propellant
100 feet in every direction. After this disaster, I knew that I had a good
chance of setting the new altitude record.
D.R. Hero catoes 1 second after launch
Next up was Marck Clark and Frank Kosdon with their Thuderbolt! It was
a two stage rocket powered by an 010,000 to an M3650. I must admit, it was
a rather impressive flight, but unfortunately it was not tracked. After
three hours of waiting, it was finally my turn to launch. The JD Cruiser
left the tower faster than a speeding bullet! A heartbeat later, we heard
it break through the sound barrier. After 41 seconds, it reached an altitude
of 31,185 feet, the highest recorded altitude at Black Rock and a new women's
world altitude record! For some unknown reason, the Black Sky timer failed
to activate the deployment charge and the JD Cruiser is now planted somewhere
between Black Rock and China. Thiswhole Black Rock event was an awesome
experience for me.
Many people have asked me if I am planning on building a rocket for next
year, the answer is yes! I have already started building a two-stage version
of the JD Cruiser. It will be powered by an 010,000 to an 010,000 with an
all new propellant. When I asked Ky what he was building, he said,"My
last D.R. Hero went 200 feet. My next one will reach an altitude of over
500,000 feet." All I know is that he has a lot of BIG diameter aluminum
tubing laying around in his machine shop and he hasn't had any time to look
at his old rocket videos.
I want to thank all of the people who helped us at Black Rock and Brunp
for his hospitality. See you next year! |
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