Rocketry Planet

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio USA — Lake resident and 1976 Springfield High School graduate Steve Eves, known as Rocket Man, recently gave a presentation to the Springfield High School students on his successful launch of a 1:10 scale Saturn V rocket.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the historic Saturn V launch of the Apollo11 crew to the moon. On a farm in Maryland Eves had a historic launch of his own with a 36-foot version of the Saturn V he built in his garage. On April 25, he set several world records. 

Steve Eves speaking to Springfield High School.

Teacher Peter Geiss told students about Eves’ accomplishment.

“What Steve did is build a one tenth scale rocket of the Saturn V. It looks so good that people tried to convince him not to risk launching it.” Geiss also explained to students that when NASA launches a rocket they fail 10 percent of the time. “He did this knowing that he might never see the rocket again or he might see it in a pile of rubble.”

He said Eves has been covered by local media and national news media such as Auto Mechanics, National Geographic and has been sponsored by Rockets Magazine.

“The thrust used to launch this rocket could send a Volkswagen Beetle a half-mile into the air.” Geiss said.  The rocket is the largest model rocket and the only model rocket over 1,000 pounds that has been launched successfully.

After a video and the Elton John song Rocket Man Eves was introduced to the students. He stated he had been asked by many schools to come speak but the one offer he accepted was Springfield, his alma mater.

As an auto body technician at Tallmadge Collision, Eves explained how that work helped him to build the rocket. 

Geiss asked if Eves had something happen in school that sparked his interest in rockets. He said he attended Young school and the fourth grade science class put on a demo of rockets. “A switch went off in my head and I have been into model rockets ever since,” he said.

Eves stated that he started this project two years ago and the best part of it is meeting people. “I was invited to NASA in Huntsville, Alabama, I shook the hand of a man that walked on the moon, I had lunch with a man that flew into space with an Apollo rocket and my rocket stood on display next to the one at Huntsville. I had no clue when I started this project that I was going to get to do those things and they are still happening. It has been more than I could ever imagine. Pulling the flight off was just a plus. I had no idea when I pushed that button, I was, by the way, the one who hit the button, what to expect. I did not know if I was going to have anything left of the rocket or not.” The rocket did float safely to earth under parachutes after flying almost a mile into the sky.

You can watch the video on You Tube it has had over 250,000 hits.

“I had a lot of help. It took a whole crew of people to pull this off,” Eves said.

Eves answered questions from the students and explained that the rocket is built out of plywood and fiberglass. “I think I drove my wife nuts as I was hammering thousands of nails into it for weeks. He predrilled the holes for everything they put on the rocket. It took three men to paint the rocket because they had to keep the paint wet. He also had several sponsors which paid for the engines. “I owe them a debt of gratitude, without them I would have never been able to do this,” he said.  Eves stated he has played with model rockets since he was a child and as an adult he still does, just on a bigger scale.

There were three students that were very interested in Eves’ presentation. They are the members of the high school Rocketry Group. These rocket enthusiasts qualified for the national competition held in Virginia. They recently participated in the competition and did not do as well as expected however, it was a great honor to reach that level. Their rocket was to travel 750 feet in 45 seconds; it went 781 feet scoring them 8588 points. With rocketry, the lower the points the better. They had qualified for the nationals with 11 points. Advisor, Toni Miller said that the students build their own rockets for the competitions. Miller stated that these kids have wonderful parents. “That is why they have turned out so well.” Maybe someday one of these Springfield students will follow in Eves giant footsteps.

Copyright © 2009, The Suburbanite.