
Touchdown of a large rocket. If anyone knows whose this is, let me know.

The rocket from the previous phto is all down now.

Touchdown of a large rocket. If anyone knows whose this is, let me know.

The rocket from the previous photo continues settling down.

The rocket from the previous photo is now all on the ground.

Saturday morning at the AeroPAC XPRS flight line.

One group preps their rocket for flight.

Prepping a large rocket for flight.

This group has a nice collection of rockets.

Steve Pope allowed a sneak preview of the cover for this year's
AeroPAC holiday party DVD cover. As if there wasn't enough anticipation already...

Jim and Becky prep a rocket for flight.
(Just kidding. Jim is trying to salvage what he can from a crashed fuselage.)

The To100K booster is sitting ready to test the new O motor during Monday's
experimental launch.

Noel is ready (if he can get permission) to attempt an airstart with a
model rocket motor on a model airplane. So in effect the model planeis the first stage.

A large rocket lifts off from the away pads. If anyone knows whose this is,
let me know.

The rocket fromt he previous photo climbs out nice and straight.

Two parachutes are the parts of one rocket, intended to be recovered this way.

Two parachutes from one rocket drift down at different rates.
It's getting harder to keep them in the same photo.

Touchdown of the first section fromt he large rocket in the previous photos.

The parachute settles down from the touchdown in the previous photo.

The second part of the large rocket in the previous photos touches down.

John Ballard (a Stratofox invitee) shows the rocket that he found
6 miles away.Usually the advice is to get the GPS coordinates and bring that back,in case the owner is out looking for it too.But this was in a place where it risked getting run over by playa trafficunrelated to AeroPAC.So John made the call to make sure the owner gets it back in one piece.

This group is setting up a three-stage N-N-M rocket which was sim'ed out
to a potential altitude of 96,000'. (When it did fly later, I didn't get a picture of the launch. The 3rd stage didn't light. But all three stages were recovered.They were using Greg Clark's BigRedBee transmitters.)

The three-stage N-N-M being prepped for launch.

This was supposed to be a drag race between Nibbles the Cat and
Mercury Joe. Nibbles is launching. Joe is still on its pad.

Nibbles the Cat flies alone in what was supposed to be a drag race with Mercury Joe.

Mercury Joe finally gets around to flying, with no chance of winning the
drag race.

The trails from Nibbles the Cat and Mercury Joe during their drag race.

Nibbles the Cat fires is second stage.

Mercury Joe's booster is under parachute.
(In this aspect, Mercury Joe wins the drag race. Nibbles impactedwithout deploying its chute. There was a large crowd at the crash site.)

Another large rocket launches from Away Pad F.

Jamie and others race toward the Mercury Joe booster as it drifts toward landing.

Touchdown of the Mercury Joe booster.

The crowd around the crash site of Nibbles the Cat.
(Nibbles is a stuffed animal, just to settle anyone's nerves about this.)

A view of the AeroPAC XPRS flight line from standing on my truck,
where I took the prevous several photos.

The crowd thins as the pieces are picked up at the crash site of Nibbles the Cat.

Jamie recovers the booster from Mercury Joe.

People set up rockets on Pads 21-30 in the foreground. The desert mirage
is clearly visible in the background.

Steve Pope is everywhere getting video for the holiday party DVD.

It's never a good sign when a rocket lifts off the rail at this angle.
This looks like too much deflection to be from wind so itprobably has asymmetric thrust.

Mike Dennis' rocket deployed its parachute during its boost and shredded into a cloud of debris.
This is about the time that the Launch Control Officer hits the big red button to sound the heads-up siren.