Before building the rockets we looked into the achievements of the space pioneers. Everyone seemed to be familiar with Laika, the famous Soviet space dog who orbited the Earth and tragically sacrificed her life for science. The massive Saturn V rocket also provided insights to rocket architecture and propulsion mechanisms. It became clear that in addition to the 1.5 liters plastic bottles we needed a long body, a nose cone and sturdy fins. Styling the rockets was also essential for recognizing into which suborbital program they belonged to: “Saturn XXL”, “USSR”, “Chaos 1” or “Tuttifrutti Rainbow”.
Once the spacecrafts were ready, we headed to the meadow opposite to Werkraum and set up a control camp for the launches. In the extreme temperature circumstances of 30 plus degrees Celsius four teams worked seamlessly and persistently. Launch Team set up the bicycle pump and ensured H2O supply, two Altitude Measurement Teams prepared the barometric and optical equipment and Video Team made three cameras ready for multi-perspective recordings. With each countdown the hot air vibrated with excitement and the beautiful sight of a vertically shooting, self-built rocket brought everyone to a shared and prolonged “”Wooow!”
More to check out:
Documentation on Niklas’ website
Hires photos and more rocket launch videos
Codes and instructions for barometric altimeter
Gardena launcher from USWaterRockets
Special thanks to Werkraum Schöpflin for helping us during the three sweaty days: for David and Tobi for helping with the workshops and for Vera and colleagues for providing us with plastic bottles, fresh drinks, food and a great space to work in.