Rocketry Planet

VENTURA, California USA — The year is 1961 and a student of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, destined to make an impact on the rocket propulsion industry, is recognized at a luncheon where Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson was the guest speaker.

M.I.T. "The Tech" article from October 25, 1961, featuring Dr. Kosdon, then a junior, about his pursuit in developing a safe solid rocket propellant.

A photo from Dr. Kosdon's days at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, getting an autograph from Werner Von Braun himself. Photo: Mark Clark.

The OuR Project, powered by a Kosdon R260000, roars off the Black Rock Desert in 1996. Photo: High Power Rocketry magazine, Vol. 12 No. 5-6, June/July 1997.

Kosdon, left, is seen here with OuR Project team members at ground zero of the rocket's impact point, flanked by Paul Robinson, Ken Mizoi, Jim Rosson and Phil Prior. Photo: High Power Rocketry magazine, Vol. 12 No. 5-6, June/July 1997.

Dr. Kosdon is pictured here at LDRS 20, held on the Lucerne Dry Lakebed. Lucerne was Dr. Kosdon's home test range, where he held his legendary Perchlorathon launches for years. Photo: AeroTech.

MORE ON THE STORY:
• M.I.T. "The Tech" article from November 20, 1962, featuring Kosdon and Winston, now seniors, clinching their second Undergraduate Award for the duo's ammonimum perchlorate rocket propellant research.
• "The Harvard Crimson" article from October 13, 1961, about Kosdon and Winston's rocket propellant research, part of a long-range plan to construct and launch a probe rocket intended to carry an instrument package 30-40 miles into the atmosphere.

Together with Harvard junior Ronald H. Winston, the M.I.T. junior split a $1,000 award from the American Rocket Society, presented during their week-long "Space Flight Report To The Nation" symposium in New York City, in recognition for the pair's research in developing a safe solid rocket fuel.

Their research paper, "Experimental Development of an Isocyanate Solid Propellant," labeled by the Society as "the best paper written by any undergraduate concerning the art of rocketry," served as part of a larger project to construct and launch a probe rocket intended to carry an instrument package thirty or forty miles into the atmosphere.

The pair of students met at the M.I.T. Rocket Research Society when they were freshman, and started burning the midnight oil in pursuit of the perfect solid propellant. Not content with winning the award just once, the two continued their research into their senior year, and ended up winning the ARS award for a second time—and the first time any undergraduate had won the award twice. The result of their research produced a reliable solid fuel with a much higher energy yield using polyurethane resin as a binder along with ammonium perchlorate as the oxidizer, a staple of today's hobby rocketry propulsion systems.

That M.I.T. genius was none other than hobby rocketry's own Dr. Franklin J. Kosdon, a brilliant rocket scientist who left us before his time, when he passed away this past Friday.

Dr. Kosdon is considered a propulsion pioneer of today's high-power rocket motors and his persona is reknown throughout the hobby as an eclectic, if not peculiar, individual.

"I was very pleased to meet Frank at BALLS a few years back," wrote Tripoli Rocketry Association president Terry McCreary in an online posting. "We spoke at some length on motors and propellant. Frank was indisputably brilliant, and like most brilliant people he had his quirks."

It was Dr. Kosdon's trademark to show up at any venue he attended wearing well-worn T-shirts and shorts along with a pair of dirty sneakers or flip-flops—his eccentric attire was as much a part of who he was as the zip-lock plastic bag he used for a wallet that contained a pocket-sized copy of the U.S. Constitution. Still, no one can deny his undeniable expertise in building rocket motors.

Born to a generation of individuals who were educated before the invention of personal computers, Dr. Kosdon never learned to use a PC. He never owned one, never needed one. He relied on the his ability to type or hand write his correspondence, as did many from his generation.

"I have one of his letters, given to me by a friend, and I treasure it," McCreary added. "But then, he didn't need a computer. He was a natural, and his motor designs were often the product of just a few moments' thinking. Frank was truly one of the pioneers in our hobby, and his influence on rocketry will long be remembered."

Marching to the beat of a different drummer was Dr. Kosdon's calling card, a rebel without a cause, if you will. That, as well as a penchant for developing huge motors that really shook the ground. One example of his defiant nature was illustrated at LDRS 12 in Argonia, Kansas, when he set up his Full Metal Jacket 98mm minimum diameter rocket, reportedly without explicit permission, with one of his legendary O10000's loaded inside. According to some who were there, once on the pad, it was less trouble to go ahead and launch it than it was to take it back down and transport it away. KLOUDBUSTERS volunteers helped clear people to the back of the parking area for the head's up flight—which ripped to over 35,000 feet—creating a very memorable event for all in attendance.

"Frank was his own person, no doubt," said videographer Earl Cagle, Jr. in a post on Ye Olde Rocket Forum. "But, a brilliant guy who ran on a different level than many of us mere mortals of brain power compared to Frank. But, I never saw Frank try to be anyone other than who he was. I stuck a camera in his face many times for video interviews for my LDRS series of videos back when I still had the time to do those videos. He never hesitated to take the time to describe his latest creation and what he hoped to do with it."

Dr. Kosdon makes the second member of the infamous OuR Project R-motored rocket team of the mid-90's to pass away, following the death of team leader Paul Robinson, his ex-motor manufacturing business partner and another champion of snap-ring motor design, who passed away in October of 2009. Dr. Kosdon was the responsible party for designing what was essentially a 10" diameter R260,000 rocket motor, which lofted the 660 pound beast to 94,000 feet at the Black Rock Desert in 1996.

In the opening paragraph of his post-flight analysis, featured in the July 1997 issue of High Power Rocketry, Chuck Rogers said the flight was one of the most signicant accomplishments in the history of high power and experimental rocketry that occurred that day at Black Rock, August 16, 1996, with the project's successful flight to an altitude of nearly 100,000 feet. The report was recently added to Rogers' RASAero website for readers to share, a testimony to his friendship with the team and their accomplishment. Like many from that era, Rogers knew Dr. Kosdon well.

"He has passed, but we can also celebrate his life," Rogers said. "He did rockets until the end."

Funeral services will be at the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills on Thursday, April 14, 2011 at 1:00 PM. Please visit the Mt. Sinai Memorial Park website for directions and more information: http://www.mt-sinai.com/directions/

Godspeed, Dr. Kosdon. All of our lives, those of us in the hobby of rocketry, were enriched because you chose to share a part of your life, a part of you, with us. For that, we thank you.

Dr. Franklin J. Kosdon was 70 years old.