Here's one that should warm Ted's heart.

Today, my elder son's Webelos den met at a local park to shoot off rockets that they had built last week. This was my son's first rocket to build and today was his first rocket launch.

The weather was perfect, except for a slightly stronger wind than ideal. Sunny, temps in the mid-70s.

The rockets that the boys built were simple little A-engine no-parachute numbers. Several didn't go very high, and a few exploded when the engine's parachute charge went off, but my son's survived all four launches (and crash landings!) intact.

I've included some pictures in the extended entry.
more...

Posted by: JohnL at 09:28 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Also via The Eternal Golden Braid, this assessment of the three personality types of space geeks.

I think they omitted a very important type - the Heinleinian/Pournellian. Shares many traits with the O'Neillians, but also believes in a strong military role in space.

Posted by: JohnL at 10:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here's a nice gallery of space art and photos, ready to email to your friends.

I particularly like the Rockets and Astronomy galleries.

(Hat tip: Hobbyspace).

Posted by: JohnL at 11:12 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne lit off its rocket again today, this time for 40 seconds. No official details have been released by ScaledComposites yet, but reports indicate that SpaceShipOne climbed past 100,000 feet at Mach 2.

Congratulations to Rutan and crew!

Posted by: JohnL at 10:11 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Today, Burt Rutan's SpaceShipOne received a suborbital launch license from the FAA.

My birthday is coming up in a little less than a week, and I can think of no better present than to see a privately-built and -owned spaceship launched.

Update: The FAA actually issued the license on April 1, 2004, as explained in this press release.

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