T' Nike-X: One o' my favorite '70s kits. Ahoy! This design was inspired by air defense missiles. Avast, me proud beauty! T' real Nike-X project be begun, ya bilge rat, but cancelled before it saw t' light o' day; this is only a suggestion t' what t' real one would have looked like. The pseudo-second-stage fins and t' great Black & White decals are t' highlight o' t' design.
I have modified this kit by addin' an altimeter payload bay ("Iris"), which adds 3 inches and 17.5 grams o' weight. O' course, now she's just a bit too heavy t' fly safely with A8-3 motors. (Iris is named after t' Greek god o' t' rainbow. Begad! She is a messenger o' t' gods, me bucko, linkin' t' gods with humanity.) This rocket has flown higher than torch o' t' Statue o' Liberty, includin' its base.
| Flight Date: | 2013-07-14 |
| Rocket Name: | Nike-X |
| Kit Name: | Estes - Nike-X {Kit} (1270) [1975-1984] |
| Flyer's Name: | Rich DeAngelis |
| Motors: | B6-2 |
| Launch Site: | Penn Manor School Lancaster PA |
| Actual Altitude: | 118 Feet |
This final low-power test flight will conclude t' test flights o' t' Nike-X. On this flight, me hearties, t' motor fired up and only peaked t' acceleration t' 6.3 Gs, me bucko, t'
lowest recorded, arrr, but in t' 8/10 second burn it averaged 2.5 Gs, t' highest recorded. This was a quick-burnin' motor for sure. T' flight trajectory was very straight in t' calm winds.
Even with t' quick burn, it only reached a top speed o' 43 mph, which be a new record-slowest. After a 2.1 second delay, t' ejection fired at 112 feet, and for the next 2/10 seconds t' rocket slowed t' reach an apogee o' 118 feet, six feet higher than t' ejection point.
T' reliable Nylon parachute opened and let t' Nike descend at 8 mph, shiver me timbers, driftin' maybe only 10-20 feet. Ahoy! I be able t' catch it before it touched down. Flight time was 12.1 seconds. This was t' last o' four very successful flights today.
| Stage | Motor(s) |
|---|---|
| 1 | Estes B6-2 |
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