May 7th attempt

Well, the weather doesn’t look too good for a launch, but I’ll go up to see what the field looks like. My TAP members will be up there at a university launch event.

Launch will be held at the Richard Bong state Recreational area just over the boarder in Wisconsin (http://dnr.wi.gov/org/land/parks/specific/bong/index.html#directions). I plan on launching between 12 and 1 pm, unless the weather doesn’t cooperate again.

Since I had a few weeks of downtime, I’ve made some modifications to the rocket. Here’s a list for posterity:

Replaced the small screw switches I was using for power in the altimeter bays with large SPDT Push button switches. This will make it MUCH easier to reach into the rocket with a screw driver to turn on the electronics.

Added a much beefier ubolt and retention steel plate to each side of the altimeter bay. This was at the recommendation of one of my TAP sponsors, and a good one.

Ordered a giant 3/4” wing nut to replace the 3/4” bolt I was using to secure the nosecone bulkhead. This will let me insert and replace the bulkhead without any bulky tools.

Ground tested the upper sustainer ejection. Based upon the results (successful) I Reduced the amount of black powder I was planning on using, and repositioned one of the blastcaps.