Rocketry Planet

LAKE TOWNSHIP, Ohio USA — Steve Eves keeps a realistic view of his probability of success Saturday when he attempts to enter the hobby rocket record book by launching his Saturn V replica on a 400-acre farm in Price, Md.

Steve Eves with the nose piece of his 1:10 scale Saturn V rocket at his home in Uniontown. The nose piece was signed by several astronauts. Photo: Phil Masturzo.

Eves believes he has a 90 percent chance of a successful launching. Countdown is scheduled for noon and more than 1,000 hobby rocket enthusiasts and curiosity-seekers are expected to attend.

"We've done all we can, double-checked everything on our seven-page checklist and dotted every 'i' and crossed every 't,' " Eves said. "All the paperwork has been submitted and approved."

Eves is encouraged by a favorable weather forecast: 82 degrees and sunny with light wind.

"It has all come together perfectly after two years of work. And it should be a great launching," Eves said. "But you have to remember that even though we've figured everything out, this is a rocket, and when it comes to rockets, just about anything can go wrong."

Eves said he received permission from the FAA on Tuesday to fly the rocket within a five-mile radius of the farm and up to 17,000 feet of airspace during a window of time Saturday.

Eves and his local crew of 20, including his family, left Ohio today. The rocket was shipped to Maryland last weekend.

Eves and a small crew tested the electronics, launch tower and casings.

The rocket will be put together in four segments during an hourlong session Friday that will culminate with the rocket being raised 40 feet in the air by a 65-ton crane and placed on the launching pad.

Each of the rocket's nine motors is loaded with ammonium perchlorate, the same basic fuel NASA uses in the space shuttle. The motors, which cost $1,000 for each of the eight smaller ones and $4,000 for the central motor, were sent directly from the manufacturer, Loki Research in Philadelphia, to the launch site 40 miles east of Baltimore.

"[Friday night] I'll be a like a kid at Christmas and you know there's no way you'll ever go to sleep until Santa Claus comes," Eves said. "I've got that type of excitement building."

Eves said the anticipation isn't so much about the opportunity to set records, but rather to have a successful launch for all the people who have helped in terms of technical and financial aid.

"I made the rocket happen, but a lot of people came together to make the flight happen," Eves said. "People are coming in from California, Texas, Canada and all over just to see the launch.

"It's for them, not the record, that we're hoping it's a great flight."

Eves' replica Saturn V is built to 1/10 scale, stands 36 feet tall and weighs 1,648 pounds.

He said the current record for heaviest hobby rocket successfully launched is 1,368 pounds in 2004. Neil McGilvay, who holds the record, is packing parachutes for Eves' launch.

The tallest hobby rocket to have a successful flight was a 32-footer launched in the Nevada desert in 1993.

Eves said his crew has one final challenge.

"Recovery is the next crucial issue," he said. "It would be a super successful flight if we're able to get it under parachute and bring it back intact so that it can launch again.

"Nobody has ever launched a rocket that weighed more than 1,000 pounds and successfully recovered and launched it again. That's just another challenge we face."

Copyright © 2009, Akron Beacon Journal.