Flight 1a Flight 2a Flight 2b Flight 2c Flight 2d Flight 2e Flight 3a Flight 3b

Flight 2D flight report

Booster Video  -   WMV  -   Quicktime

Tower Video  -  WMV  -    Quicktime 

Ground Tracking (with Tower) WMV -  Quicktime

Ground Tracking (Only)  Quicktime

Capsule Camera - Quicktime (what little there was)

Flight Summary
Max Altitude   2017'
Max Acceleration  547.93 f/s/s @ 17.03 G
Max airspeed  617 f/s
Flight Length (capsule)  119.62 s
Booster Burnout  1.94 s  @ 500' 
Astronaut: John Shaft

Motor: AMW L1300BB

Goals

  • Shake down flight of the newly rebuilt Redstone booster
  • Shake down flight of the newly rebuilt Kira 7 capsule
  • Verify improvements to the capsule decoupling system
  • Verify the capsule free fall system works as designed
  • Verify fixes to downlink transmitter to improve signal
  • Verify improvements to fins reduces flight roll

Technical details

  • The Tower will release the capsule, allowing it to proceed with the free fall.
  • G-Wiz MC will deploy the capsule recovery system after a brief free fall.
  • Capsule Kira 7's third flight
  • DVII video/audio capture capsule camera

Results

  • Beautiful and stable launch
  • Decoupling system worked as designed
  • Tower separated from capsule (for the first time)
  • Capsule free fell for approximately 4 seconds, dropping 500 feet and landed right in front of the crowd on the flight line. (Is that showmanship or what?) 
  • Improved booster camera mount worked flawlessly 
  • Booster spin was significantly reduced
  • Tower camera could use a wider angle lens - other than the initial drop neither the booster or capsule are seen in the tower decent video.  
  • Downlink signal was improved but still had issues, especially for such a low flight. Some key moments in the flight are lost because of signal drop out.
  • PVC decoupling pipe broke at the base. The parachute harness had an undetected knot (visible from tower video) that pushed against and stressed the pipe.
  • The capsule camera had some sort of recording failure - recovered video from the memory card stops shortly after the activation of the GWiz.
  • The deployment bag for the booster drogue chute caught fire and (slowly) burned - need to coat the bag with a flame retardant. (or use a Nomex one)