While at a rocket launch in Plant City fellow rocketeer Bob invited us to the NSL 2024 East with a side of Turkey and GRITS launch. Having Skyscraper back online we made the short flight to Adel, GA where we got a crew car for the final 11 miles to Nashville on Saturday. The event was rather large with multiple pad sites, vendors, and folks with rockets to launch. We saw a lot of interesting stuff but of note, the most interesting thing I found was watching rockets going mach 1+ disintegrate mid boost and turn into a balls of confetti. What a spectacular sight that to witness. Of course there were two and three stage rockets, K motors, gliders, catos, clusters, 12k+ flights, and other successful launches as well. We launched the Bee (Apogee Zephyr) and the Mini Bee (Apogee Zephyr Jr) with their dual deploy conversion kits and had an enjoyable time.
Saturday night the event hosted a night launch and an un-advertised, dueling fireworks display. Both presented an enjoyable spectacle.
Sunday we had the pleasure of watching a massive, scale Saturn 5 rocket take to the (scale) launch pad. It was an impressive work of art that sadly had its center/main motor fail to ignite. Its smaller (4) motors boosted it about 100-120 feet before it keeled over and splatted on the terra firma below. It was heart breaking to watch.
After wrapping up our launches we headed back to the airport and blasted off for home on our hour long flight.
En-route via Skyscraper to Adel, Georgia.
Transitioned into the ex Police Tahoe/Crew Car.
The cluster was like a Christmas tree and yes, the transmission had some “quirks”.
Entrance to the event in the cotton fields in Nashville.
Violet and the Mini Bee (Apogee Zephyr Jr. with dual deploy conversion) ready to go.
Violet after recovery of the Mini Bee.
Bob’s 95′ streamer.
Bob getting his display ready.
Each element had a stake and tape securing it.
Violet checking things out.
The hardware that controls the show.
The lay of the land.
Folks getting ready for the night launch.
The sky was surprisingly dark. We got to see some stars and a bit of the milky way.
Night launch in full effect.
Bob’s firework display.
The Bee’s motor and the internals of the Dual Deploy setup.
The Bee headed to the pad on Sunday.
The bee on the pad ready to drag race “Sparky”.
Sparky got a late launch.
The Bee making a soft landing.
The scale Saturn 5 getting assembled.
The pictures did not capture the level of detail in the model.
Post crash.
Headed home in Skyscraper.
Event location:
346 Lee Wilson Road
Nashville, GA 31639 (near Tifton, GA)
Latitude/Longitude 31°16’38.3″N 83°21’09.1″
W Valdosta VOR/DME (OTK) 355° Radial, 30 NM
