Rocketry Planet

SLIDESHOW: Additional photos from 2008 USLI launch. Photos: Clark Word.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama USA — Clark Word, of 20/20 Vertical and Word Associates, Inc., has announced the release of his commemorative DVD for the staff, sponsors, teams and volunteers of this past Saturday's University Student Launch Initiative, or USLI, an event sponsored by NASA.

The USLI program is a competition that challenges university-level students to design, build and fly a reusable rocket with a scientific payload to one mile in altitude, engaging students in scientific research and real-world engineering processes with NASA engineers, where the teams design their rockets and payload components throughout the school year.

USLI requires a NASA review of the teams’ preliminary and critical designs and requires flight readiness and safety reviews before the rockets and payloads are approved for launch. After launch, teams complete a final report to include conclusions from their science experiment and the overall flight performance. The Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, and Flight Readiness Review are conducted by panels of scientists and engineers from NASA and from NASA contactors and external partners.

Word's DVD consists of interviews with each team describing the rocket, the propulsion system and the scientific payload onboard. Then, the flight is captured along with a portion of the recovery, plus a playback of the launch sequence at 1/4 speed. The DVD's are only available to USLI staff, sponsors, team members, and volunteers and are created by and provided by Word for free.

But that doesn't mean the ordinary public can't enjoy the fruits of Word's work. In a Rocketry Planet exclusive, each of the team's video segments is being made available via the Internet for viewing.

List of videos:

DVD Intro – 3D Animation created for the DVD.
Size - 6.27mb / Duration - :46
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/intro.wmv

Auburn University, Auburn, AL.
Size – 33.8mb / Duration - 1:45
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/auburn.wmv

University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, AL.
Size – 52.2mb / Duration 2:28
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/uah.wmv

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN.
Size – 59.2mb / Duration 2:01
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/vandy.wmv

Fisk University, Nashville, TN.
Size – 42.1mb / Duration 2:01
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/fisk.wmv

Utah State University, Logan, UT.
Size – 67.8mb / Duration 3:14
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/utah.wmv

Harding University, Searcy, AR.
Size – 39.8mb / Duration 1:53
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/harding.wmv

University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, N.D.
Size – 32.6mb / Duration 1:43
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/north_dakota.wmv

College of Menominee Nation, Green Bay, WI.
(Launch only)
Size – 10.5mb / Duration :34
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/menominee.wmv

Missouri University of Science & Technology, Rolla, MO.
(Interview only)
Size 10.7mb / Duration :33
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/missouri.wmv

Auburn University, Auburn, AL.
(Onboard video provided by Ms. Haley Allen, Auburn USLI Project Manager & Team Leader)
Size – 29.8mb / Duration 1:43
http://www.2020vertical.com/media/usli_2008/auburn_onboard.wmv

Word Associates is also the producer of the National Association of Rocketry Educational CD, an educational CD that teachers can get free from the NAR. Readers can surf the web-based version at: http://www.2020vertical.com/nar_edu_cd_dev/index.html