I first became interested in rockets at probably age 11 or 12 while living in St. Louis, Missouri. At the time, Project Mercury was in full swing and it was a natural interest for any youth. I remember doing very detailed designs of both rockets and submarines and my “engineering studies,” were routinely ripped off my desk by my 5th grade teacher.

My early influence with respect to rocketry was Captain Bertrand R. Brinley’s excellent book, “Rocket Manual for Amateurs,” which I believe I purchased at a store on the local Army base (it was published in 1960). Fortunately, I had neither the resources nor the means to build any of his designs, as I certainly would have blown myself up. However, I do remember mixing up small amounts of Saltpeter (Potassium Nitrate, KNO3) and Sugar, as well as black powder (Sulphur, Saltpeter, and Powered Charcoal). In the early 1960’s large bottles of both Saltpeter and Sulphur were easily purchased at any local drug store. I created one rocket out of a section of electrical conduit and some sheet metal and carved the nosecone out of a broomstick handle. Of course, it never flew and the fins (held on by liquid solder) were easily knocked off.

When I reached high-school age and while living in Vienna, Virginia, I tried making a few small motors out of expended Carbon Dioxide (CO2) cylinders. The ones filled with smokeless powder simply exploded while the ones filled with match heads shot off at very high speed through a small tubular launching mechanism I built. I was luckier than one friend (drummer Jeff Steele, a close high-school acquaintance) who eventually ended up with a fragment of CO2 cylinder in his chest after one rocket motor “test.” He was lucky he didn’t bleed to death during the incident, which I only heard about. It was still lodged near his heart when he went to his Army physical while close to being drafted in the late 1960’s. He later told me that the Army doctors came up to him saying, “….Do you know you have a piece of metal in your chest?”

Fortunately, my rocketry efforts soon gravitated towards some small Estes kits, which were far safer. Most of my rockets during this period were very small, though I did create one three-stage rocket that succeeded on ripping off every one of its balsa wood fins during takeoff. I was always wanting to make things go higher and faster; to “push the envelope,” so to speak.

From the late 1960’s and until 2003, my only relationship with rocketry was in picking up the pieces of very large rockets after they failed (e.g., the Space Shuttle Challenger’s Solid Rocket Motors), and helping recover the odd Air-to-Air missile ripped off of crashed military fighters. However, it was always something I wanted to do (i.e., build and fly my own rockets).

My recent interest in flying rockets was created during a visit to a local hobby store, where I was looking for plastic materials to repair my model of the White Star ocean liner RMS Titanic. I noticed an Estes kit of the Mercury Redstone 4 rocket that carried Gus Grissom into space and thought to myself, “Well, I’ve just got to have that…” I built the kit and flew it four times on B and C Estes motors. I had a blast with it and it was not long before I needed to go higher and faster. I did a little research on the Internet and given the slow nature of the underwater business and my need for a technical and creative outlet, I ended up buying a Missile Works kit, the Viper. I selected this design for no particular reason, other than it seemed like a good place to start and I could gain some experience on G and H class motors. Plus, it was a good-looking rocket.

The Viper did pretty well and I gained my Tripoli Level 1 certification with it. Using components of the Viper (i.e., nosecone and fins), I have since graduated to a scratch-built design, which I call the Proteus II. This rocket is named after the 1883 steamer, SS Proteus, which was lost in the Nares Strait, north of St. John’s, Newfoundland, during an attempt to re-supply the Greely Arctic expedition.

The Proteus has done well and I managed to get my Tripoli Level 2 certification with it using a Cesaroni J-285 composite rocket motor. I am now in the process of designing a Level 3 rocket which will use a 6 inch diameter spiral-wound fiberglass airframe and probably end up being close to 12 feet in length. I enjoy flying rockets and given a lack of anything better to do, have gone from being uncertified to being Level 2 certified in about four months. What I strive for in designing these vehicles is performance and efficiency. It’s probably an off-shoot of my past experiences driving Formula Vee race cars during SCCA events, but I always want to get as much out of any design as possible; i.e., make it strong, but light as well and efficient from the aerodynamic standpoint.

My short-term goal in rocketry is to create my own design which will reach 16,000 feet AGL, the same distance I have been underwater in the Russian Research submersible Mir 1. Once I’ve done that, I am very interested in exploring the possibility of developing and testing a reusable sounding rocket capable of carrying 50 lb payloads into space on sub-orbital flights. But the main thing for me is to have fun doing it. C. Newport

My photo album: Rocketry Activity Photos by Curt - Newport

Copyright © 2004 Curt Newport
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