Launch Date: Saturday, May 20, 2000, ~Noon
Event: Scout-O-Rama
Launch Location: Al Lease Park, Kent, Ohio
Weather: Cloudy, occasional very light rain, 45-50 Degrees F
Winds: Northwest, changing to west, 5 to 10 mph

Flight Notes: Launched on an NCR F62-4 Dark Star. The Scouts had been waiting for this flight all morning. I had just recently finished modifying the support circuitry for the camera to include a photo-transistor for triggering the timer. Just before launch my 11-year-old son, standing 50 to 60 feet away, shined our 1-million-candle-power cordless spotlight at the hole in the back of the payload section to start the timer. A quick "54321" countdown followed as soon as I heard the first picture click off. The flight was typical for the CR4 on a Dark Star: quick smoky boost, coast to apogee at about 600 feet, clean ejection and separation of the payload from the booster, sideways descent of the camera payload clicking pictures on the way down to Mark's catch. But what?! Someone caught the booster too?! Tod Hilty was right behind me and snagged the booster as it came in. The Scouts loved it.

At this time, only low-resolution images are available. Additional resolutions and exposures will be added below as time and server space allow.

The nine individual images are shown from a "nosecone up" perspective. The tenth image is a composite of the four images leading up to apogee.
 

Thumbnail Image		Frame		Description
		0a		T minus one-half. Looking south through the edge of launch range. That's me on the left.
		1a		T plus one-half. Pond to southwest of range. Start of slow 180 degree roll.
		3a		Subdivision north of the range. Facing north-northeast.
		4a		Subdivision north of the range. Arcing over and facing north.
		5a		Subdivision north of the range. Arcing over and facing west-northwest.
		6a		Edge of subdivision north of the range. Apogee. Nose pointing west.
		12a		Looking down on the range, smoke trail, Scouts, and cars. Nose pointing east-southeast.
		17a		Range, smoke trail, and Scouts. Nose pointing south-southeast.
		24a		Cheese! The last frame, and the first time I've ever run out of film. Must have been a perfectly straight boost.
		3456*		*Composite of frames 3a, 4a, 5a, and 6a, in an "right side up" perspective. Click here to download medium-resolution image 156KB.

The 35 mm film from CR4 was procesed and printed on 4"x6" prints. These were scanned at 300 dpi for high-resolution, reduced by 50% (effective 150 dpi) for medium-resolution, reduced by 50% again (effective 75 dpi) for low-resolution, and reduced by 50% yet again (effective 37.5 dpi) for thumbnail-resolution.

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This page was created on May 25, 1999, and last updated on June 16, 2000.