Update 1 : 2011-04-13 21:03:54 PST
Well, flew out of SeaTac this morning at 6 AM PST. Landed in Denver, then connected to another flight and landed in Huntsville at about 2 PM CST. Overall the flights were uneventful. Picked up and unpacked the rocket and various tools here at the hotel. Went to get dinner, then went to registration and got our NASA badges. Came back to the hotel and now it’s time for sleep. Evening everyone! BTW, here’s a picture of the Saturn V rocket we drove past on the highway!
Update 2 : Ummm… Later…
Yeah yeah, it’s a little delayed, better late than never. Anyway, we saw some cool stuff. Got to see some bits of the ISS…
Learned all about Friction Stir Welding…
Showed off our massive rocket at the rockets fair…
And then were fed dinner underneath a rocket that dwarfed our own. The Saturn V.
Anyway, to summarize what happened with our rocket, we had an altimeter malfunction that caused a premature deployment of all the our parachutes while still on the launch pad. Unable to determine if the problem lied in the particular altimeter or in something systemic to our rocket design, it was decided that we could not fly safely, and our launch was scrubbed.
We were offered the chance to fly elsewhere and submit it as our competition flight. We took the rocket to Black Rock, NV where we flew it successfully twice using a replacement altimeter.
