Pictures from the Paragon space launch attempt, Sept 14-18, 2003

Images of Paragon Astronautics event and equipment displayed with permission.

Stratofox Team at this launch
Callsign	Members	Vehicle
Stratofox 1	Ian Kluft KO6YQ (various navigators)	4x4 pickup
Stratofox 2	Justin Rocha KG6SGU Jeremy Cooper KE6JJJ	4x4 SUV
Stratofox 3	Dave Masten KG6FNL Sean Lynch KG6CVV	4x4 SUV
Stratofox 4	Ben Woodard KG6FNK (various navigators)	airplane
Stratofox 5	(reserved for Nick Austin)
Stratofox 6	K Mark Kaviezel KC0JHQ Rafael Skodlar KC6LBJ	4x4 Jeep
Our hosts
Paragon Astronautics, Denver
Launch Licensing/Ground Crew
Orbital Expressways, Minneapolis

On September 15-18, 2003, our aerospace tracking team called Stratofox attended to support Paragon Labs' launch of the Dragoon 2 rocket. Had the weather and FAA licnense restrictions not kept it on the pad every day, this would have been the world's first space launch without any government funding.

This was to be a suborbital flight, meaning that it was not intended to reach orbit and would come back to Earth via parachute. Often people ask... why not just go to orbit? That will be the next goal after this is accomplished, and it'll take a much larger rocket. Dragoon 2 is capable of going higher than 100km (328,000 feet) in altitude, which is generally considered the scientific boundary of space. To get to orbit, you have to get up there and then reach 17,000 mph, where an object's rate of fall equals its rate of escape from Earth and it falls in a circle around the world forever - then it's in orbit. Anything less than 17,000mph and it's still a suborbital flight - it will fall back to Earth.

Stratofox's official role in the Dragoon 2 flight was tracking and recovery. In other words, we're the ones who go find the rocket wherever it lands in far-northern Nevada and bring it back to the launch site. However, everyone at the launch was a volunteer (i.e. no participant got a paycheck for their work there) so, like everyone else, we also intended to help as a part of the larger team with anything that it took to make the mission succeed.

This is the rocket launch that we were training for on the Stratofox 2 trip to Black Rock in August 2003.

Sunday, September 14 Travel to Black Rock	23 pictures
Monday, September 15 First launch window, flight to Reno/Stead	16 pictures
Tuesday, September 16 Second launch window, exploring ghost town at Sulphur	27 pictures
Wednesday, September 17 Third launch window, exploring western Black Rock	36 pictures
Thursday, September 18 Fourth launch window, tear down camp	32 pictures
See also pictures by Sean Lynch

Back to Ian's Black Rock Pages

This page is copyright (c) 2003 Ian Kluft. Images of Paragon Astronautics event and equipment displayed with permission.