After months of work and up to the minute starts and stops, the Rocket Project team had a successful launch today at 3:35 PM. This week the eight high school students from around the United States and their Mavericks mentor met in the blazing hot Black Rock Desert in Nevada to see if their labor of love for the last few months, would shoot to the stars. Well, all their hard work paid off with a successful launch of the 1100-pound, 29- foot tall rocket into the stratosphere. The rocket was built with a VAIO motherboard inside that has built-in telemetry and GPS tracking so after some analysis, we’ll know just how high into the sky it went.
Since so many of you have cheered on the team and watched the story unfold, we wanted to bring you as close to the action as we could. Here are some moments from the launch day. As a part of the small group of onlookers sweltering in the desert heat to watch the countdown, I can tell you watching the meticulous preparation by the team and seeing the faces full of anticipation in the crowd made for an exciting few hours as we waited for liftoff.
The Rocket Project, a joint program developed by Sony VAIO and Intel, was designed to encourage kids interested in science to pursue their dreams. The students began the accelerated rocketry course taught by Tom Atchison, director of the Association of Rocket Mavericks and a leading figure in the high power rocket community back in March of this year. The students were also given VAIO CW, Z and F series laptops with the latest Intel Core i5 and i7 processor technology. With tools and training they set off on their mission.
Since March 2010 we’ve watched The Rocket Project story unfold as a documentary crew has been with them to capture and shared glimpses of their individual lives and the progress made by the group. Along the way the kids kept video diaries and shared behind-the-scenes stories like building the nose cone, the epoxy accident and the disappointment of a long weather delay via the Rocket Project website. We’ve also had a chance to see their back stories and to get to know what has inspired these future scientists.
The official Rocket Project website has all these story from the beginning but with so much great footage there is also talk of a documentary in the works that will show the entire Rocket Project “drama” from start to finish. We’ll share details about that as we get them. In the meantime, here’s a video I did with Vanessa, Karina, Kevin and Ezinna, four of the team members as they were between projects during the launch days.
Is the rocket launch ever going to be updated with the full coverage.
Report
It was a honor to be a part of this successful partnership with the Rocket Mavericks, the CAMS students, the Media/Film crew and SONY. Unbelievable experience shared by my family and the rest of the participants.
Report
Congrats on your project. Looked great !!
Did you get a good recovery. As we say here the up part looked real good!
Report