In the wee hours of Saturday night, more rain rolled through the area and left everything thoroughly drenched. The results was a field of muck. Roads were nearly unusable except to the four wheel drive vehicles, as the mud was just this side of banana peel slippery.

On top of that, the wind had returned with a vengeance as a result of the passing cold front.

But there were large rockets to launch and work proceeded to get underway to get that accomplished.

Today would be the day Team Aries and the Tripoli Oklahoma V2 would launch.

Ed LaCroix answers questions for videographer Earl Cagle.

Team Aries was mostly ready to go, but the task of setting up the huge rail launcher was yet to be done.

The launcher, a product of Jim Stanlick of Stanlick Welding, weighs close to a half a ton and features an electronically controlled hydraulic ram to raise and lower the rail tower.

With a project such as this, the only way to safely launch it is with a rail.

There was a lot of spectator interest this morning as the high winds had effectively cancelled normal launch operations.

It was simply too windy to safely launch, so flyers and spectators alike were wandering around watching various teams assemble large projects.

Ken Mizoi has become a believer in the new RDAS data acquisition computer.

Team Redstone continued to complete prep on the huge 30 foot tall scale model of the Mercury Redstone scheduled to fly on Monday.

With the rail launcher setup complete, it was time to tie up loose ends at the rangehead.

The plan was originally to prep and load the rocket on Sunday afternoon, but the weather report would nix that idea before the end of the day.

This will cause some additional scrambling on Monday morning to get everything done for an 11AM launch.

The assembled Aries airframe ready to be loaded.

Things started off quite yucky for Team Aries as the rental truck got stuck delivering the launcher.

Thanks to extra sets of willing hands, everything got back on track quickly even if the ground was similar to walking in 4" of chocolate pudding.

That's quite a sight!

The launcher was quickly set up and the team went to fetch the Aries.

Once delivered to the pad, the crew members went to work assembling the components to load onto the rail.

In no time at all, the Aries was loaded and proudly thrust into the air. What a massive sight this 26" diameter mammoth turned out to be on the pad. Final adjustments were made to the rail, electronics were armed and igniters installed.

How's that for smoke? Photo: P. Lantz

Quentin Wilson of Rocket Boys fame pressed the button after a 5 count, and the Aries streaked into the sky, turning slightly into the wind and cruised to an altitude of 4780 feet.

 Peter Lantz took a tell-tale photograph of the Aries launch from the regular rangehead.

Visible in the photo to the left, you can see the 30 foot tall tower for the Mercury Redstone to the left. Compared to the gigantic exhaust plume of the four M1939 motors, it appears dwarfed!

This has to be one of the all time great launches, putting that much smoke up into the air.

Had the wind cooperated (ie. not been blowing so hard) the flight could have taken the closest to the 5,000 foot mark by an even smaller margin. Even so, it was a great launch and an even greater recovery.

Tripoli Oklahoma's giant V2

While the Aries crew was setting up, the team project of Tripoli Oklahoma was also being set up at the #88 away cell.

This project was loaded with an AeroTech N2000 White Lightning motor, two AeroTech K1100T Blue Thunders and two AeroTech K700's. Tripoli Oklahoma was in for a shock when they initially stood the V2 up, as one of the altimeters deployed the nosecone.

The culprit was believed to be water that had leaked into the airframe during the passing rainstorms the previous day.

The rocket was lowered to repack the recovery system and to check on the electronics.

Headed for the UK!

Once reprepped, the rocket was stood back up to determine the extend of the water saturation.

Thanks to the unique honeycomb/fiberglass construction, the airframe was safe, but a couple judiciously drilled drain holes let the balance of the water escape.

The V2 was drug for 45 yards!

Playfully dubbed the "Pee-Too", the rocket eventually 'relieved' itself sufficiently to be reloaded onto the launch pad while spectators cleared the area.

After a 10 count, the V2 took took to the Kansas air, having a perfect flight. All five motors lit and the resulting flame and smoke was just plain cool.

After drifting back to earth, the huge man-rated parachute lowered the rocket into a neighboring hops field and then proceeded to drag the rocket for almost 150 feet before the parachute deflated.

Additional pictures of the Aries and V2 launches are located in separate photo galleries. Follow the links below:

• Aries Photos
• V2 Photos

Monday, the Mercury Redstone. I can hardly wait! Coverage of that will be delayed due to return airline schedule.