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The trek to the launch site was a bit cold due to wind chill. Setup
of the launch equipment went well. Setting up of the on-board video camera
was challenging due to the bright sun and difficulty of seeing the LCD
screen. The new ignition box that was recently built was being used for the
first time. It worked well, and about a second after ignition button pressed,
rocket rose rapidly in the usual manner. The white smoke trail was
particularly striking, highly visible due to illumination from the bright
sun, and with the clear blue sky as background. Rocket disappeared from view
shortly after burnout. After about 10 seconds, the ‘pop’ sound from the
apogee charge was heard, and immediately a smoke cloud from the charge
appeared, brightly illuminated by the sun. A second or two later, another
‘pop’ was heard and a second smoke cloud, this one somewhat ‘streaked’, was
visible. We saw the rocket free-falling, manifested as bright flashes as the
sun glinted off the aluminum tape bands. After about a dozen seconds, the
orange rocket itself could be clearly seen. Shortly after, the main charge
was seen to fire and immediately the parachute was seen to blossom. The
rocket descended in a stable manner all the way to touchdown, about 200 feet
distant from us. Rocket was in great shape, overall. It was noticed, however,
that the smoke charge mount had failed and smoke charge was hanging by the
igniter leads. The smoke charge had not fired.
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