After a two month delay due to weather and vacations, Thor finally made its second flight.  See first flight details here "Thor Level 1".

This was my NAR Level 2 High Power Certification flight at the 10/11/2001 Tripoli Minnesota launch at North Branch.

The rocket was configured for dual deployment controlled by a MissileWorks RRC2 altimeter.  It also carried Glen Overby's radio beacon just in case it drifted too far since the flight was predicted to be 3500' (before adding extra weight of dual deployment).


(The wind made it a bad hair day, but still a good rocket day)



The liftoff was perfect, and fast, on an Aerotech J350W-M reload.

Primary deployment was right on cue, aparently the motor and RRC2 fired at about the same time.  The "drogue" chute was the normal Rocketman R7 but with the cord-lock slid all the way up so the parachute acted like a "balun", just an inflated sphere that creates a drag but very little drift.  It is also less likely to tangle with the main later.  The extraction from the Rocketman 4" nomex bag was perfect (I rig it so the payload section drags the bag out and off of the chute.



Main deployment was perfect at 500' and the 6' orange military surplus chute inflated nicely and gave the whole assembly a nice touchdown about 200 yards down wind of the launcher.




Ted Cochran walked out to inspect the rocket, proclaimed it undamaged, and signed off my NAR Level 2 paperwork.

The altimeter beeped out  2900', a bit less than predicted since I had probably added a pound of payload since the first simulation.

Now to start building "Thor's Hammer", an 8" diameter 5' tall booster to fly Thor as a two-stager!

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