Strap-on Video Rocket Blastoff

A frame grab from my Nike rocket’s video under thrust…

The motor is a K815 from Cesaroni Aerospace in Canada. The sparks are molten titanium sponge.

I added a nose cone to the Oregon Scientific video cam strapped to the rocket, and it barely hangs on as my fiberglass rocket crosses 500 MPH… The camera gets knocked about; the Velcro strap comes loose and flaps wildly before ripping off a segment. The onboard computer recorded 12.6 G’s of acceleration as she screamed to Mach 0.7 in a couple seconds.

A sandstorm rolled in before I could recover it, so I had no idea if the camera survived the ride, or being dragged across the playa by the winds. When the weather lifted, Erik captured my recovery reaction (below).