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| By Carmelo Turdo |
The St. Louis Rocketry Association (SLRA) celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the Apollo 15 flight and the 60th Anniversary of the Liberty Bell 7 Mercury flight with a commemorative launch event on Saturday, August 7, at Buder Park. Association members gathered with family, friends and guests to observe the launch of several Saturn V rockets, a mass launch of Mercury Redstone rockets and still more launches of historic U.S. space vehicle rockets and unique designs.
The Apollo 15 moon mission (July 26, 1971 - August 7, 1971) was crewed by Dave Scott, Jim Irwin and Al Worden, with Scott and Irwin landing on the moon July 30 within 1500 feet of the target. They spent nearly 67 hours on the moon, deployed the first lunar rover and collected over 170 pounds of lunar rock samples. Al Worden performed the first deep space EVA when he retrieved film cassettes from the Scientific Instrument Module on the return trip. Following reentry into the earth's atmosphere, one of the three main command module parachutes was not fully inflated resulting in a slightly higher rate of descent during splashdown.
Liberty Bell 7 (July 21, 1961) was the second U.S. manned mission, crewed by Gus Grissom. The flight was the last suborbital flight with the Redstone booster and the first flight with the Mercury capsule modified to carry the new hatch with explosive bolts, the single, larger window and an improved 3-axis control system. Following splashdown, the new hatch unexpectedly blew off the spacecraft, causing it to fill with water as Grissom scrambled out. The recovery helicopter was unable to save the now waterlogged Liberty Bell 7, and it was cut loose. Grissom was rescued with little time to spare as he nearly drowned. The Mercury capsule was recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean in 1999, and later evaluation showed that the firing mechanism for the hatch was not initiated by Grissom. It is very likely that static electricity from the spacecraft itself triggered the bolts as an external antenna was being cut to accommodate the cable hook from the helicopter.
SLRA periodically hosts commemorative launches to celebrate the anniversaries of NASA manned space flights. Association members are especially fond of launching their Saturn V and Mercury Redstone rockets, many of which were represented at the recent event. In this first set, we feature three Saturn V rockets of two different models.
Estes Saturn 1B 1:100 scale by David Kovar:
Estes Saturn V 1:100 scale rockets by Chris Lagemann and David Kovar using his custom launch pad complete with smoke machine simulating LOX venting and the firing of the main F-1 rockets:
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| (Graphic provided by SLRA) |
St. Louis Rocketry Association is well known for their Mercury Redstone mass launches such as the one conducted in May to Commemorate the Freedom 7 60th Anniversary. These rockets were provided by Chris Lagemann, Daryl Weber, David Kovar, Don Hanson, Doug Probst, Glen Arens, John Buckley and Michael Ikemeyer.
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| (Graphic provided by SLRA) |
The next sequence of scale rocket launches features historic U.S. space vehicles represented here, excluding the Mercury Redstone and Saturn V shown previously: Estes V-2, David Kovar; Estes Dual-Engine Gemini Titan, David Kovar; and the Estes Little Joe I, Chris Lagemann and David Kovar.
Another set of historic U.S. Space vehicles were launched, excluding the Saturn V shown above, featuring the Aerospace Specialty Products two-stage WAC Corporal with Tiny Tim Booster, David Kovar; Boyce Aerospace Falcon 9, Doug Probst; scratch-built Space Shuttle Atlantis glider, David Kovar.
And to prove that with enough thrust anything can fly, Jay Draper launched his LOC Precision Cool Spool twice as shown in this sequence:
The Aero Experience thanks the St. Louis Rocketry Association for hosting another great commemorative launch event and for all that the members do to promote model rocketry and science education. We will have more coverage of their activities throughout the year.
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