This is the day that Kieran got his Level One with a great launch and recovery so Congratulations to him ! This is also the day that Chris gave his new rocket its maiden launch and Rob showed us what 'Sparky' Congreve Motors could do ! Impressive !! Launches were perfect and recoveries close so not a lot of walking to do. The perfect way to spend Father's Day ! Thanks to Rob for his pictures of Chris' flight.

For those interested ,here, by kind permission are the details of the two flights of Kieran's 'Starhopper' rocket :-

"The rocket was scratch-built from a kit of parts assembled especially for him and mostly sourced from Giant Leap Rocketry. The boat tail was made of pine and turned to order. The avionics payload consisted of a previously-unflown G-Wiz MC flight computer and a TeleTrak 434 MHz Telemetry APRS Transmitter Version 2. However radio-tracking wasn't required due to the very still wind conditions.

The first flight was a maiden flight to check the rocket's flight stability and also practice his motor preparation. The second flight was for his actual Level 1 Certification attempt. Both flights were on Cessaroni CTI Pro 38 I205 ( Pro 38-3G) classic propellant motors. Flight 1 was a 6-year old motor whilst Flight 2 was a 1-year old motor which probably accounts for the different motor performance ( due to oxidation of the propellant surface on the older motor and subsequent time to come up to full operational pressure).

Gross lift-off weight was 3480 grams ( 7.7 pounds); Length is 70.750 inches; Diameter is 4.024 inches.

FLIGHT 1 :- Maximum Altitude 1486 feet; Maximum speed 207 MPH; Maximum Acceleration 5.65G ( 181 feet/sec/sec); Time to Apogee 10.75 seconds; Descent Rate 19.88 feet/sec; Flight length 86.6 seconds.

FLIGHT 2 :- Maximum Altitude 1466 feet; Maximum speed 198 MPH; Maximum Acceleration 7.55G (242.9 feet/sec/sec); Time to Apogee 10.5 seconds; Descent Rate 20.42 feet/sec; Flight length 85.1 seconds." ( information kindly supplied by Nigel)