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On the second day, I ended up also helping as a technical advisor for the X Prize Cup reporting on the Tripoli Rocketry Association's high-power rocket launches. It was definitely a success as I briefed the reporter about high-power rocketry, helped him find the rocket builders as they came to the flight line before each launch.Actually, by helping them to find each rocket's builder, I sort of scuttled my own chance to be on TV each time, except for a brief view during the coverage of Woody Hoburg's rocket.Oh well, there's no substitute for the people who actually built each rocket when you want the precise answers and a real look at their reactions. We heard the crowd loved it. But I didn't forget my friends at Masten Space Systems. I earned the flight line credentials that Dave Masten got for me with lots of pictures of MSS's static tests. The highlights of the day (in order of apparent crowd reaction) were... - Armadillo Aerospace made the second and third attempts to fly their "Pixel" lander for Level 1 of the NASA Lunar Lander Challenge. While they didn't win the prize, they made such impressive flights with numerous records broken, like flying a large vertical-landingrocket more than once in a day.
- The popular Rocket Belt flew 2 more times for crowd.
- The Tripoli high-power rockets made numerous successful flights, with the video cameras catching the drama of pre-flight apprehension and post-flight celebrations of the hobbyists who built them.
- Masten Space Systems performed two static firings of a rocket motor,which roared so loud the crowd had to hold their ears as they watched the flames with "mach diamonds" coming from the motor.A 95-second firing showed the motors could have been used in the lander challenge if the lander had been ready in time.
- In the NASA Elevator Games, tether-climbing robots competed to show whether the science fiction concept of a "space elevator" can be brought some steps toward reality. With teams from universities around the world,one surprise entry was from Westmont High School in San Jose, California, who got the second-best time.The NASA commentators pointed out this shows there's no age limit.
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