Improvised Rocket Motors by Desert Publications

An appalling accident rate led individuals such as G. However, such amateur rockets can be dangerous because noncommercial rocket motors may fail more often than commercial rocket motors if not correctly engineered. Brinley provided even more detailed information regarding the hobby, and further contributed to its burgeoning popularity.Īt this time, amateur rockets nearly always employed either black powder, zinc-sulfur (also called 'micrograin'), or rocket candy (often referred to as 'caramel candy') propellant mixtures. The subsequent publication, in 1960, of a book entitled Rocket Manual for Amateurs by Bertrand R. Interest in the rocketry hobby was spurred to a great extent by the publication of a Scientific American article in June 1957 that described the design, propellant formulations, and launching techniques utilized by typical amateur rocketry groups of the time (including the Reaction Research Society of California). Blackmon's rocket was examined at Redstone Arsenal and eventually grounded on the basis that some of the material he had used was too weak to control the flow and mixing of the fuel. On learning that Blackmon wanted to launch his rocket from a nearby farm, the Civil Aeronautics Administration notified the U.S. The rocket was designed to be powered by combined liquid nitrogen, gasoline, and liquid oxygen.

In the summer of 1956, 17-year-old Jimmy Blackmon of Charlotte, North Carolina, built a 6-foot rocket in his basement. The group did their research on rockets from a launch site deep in the Mojave Desert. One of the first organizations set up in the US to engage in amateur rocketry was the Pacific Rocket Society established in California in the early 1950s. Rocket Festivals are an old tradition at the beginning of the wet season in certain parts of Laos and ThailandĪmateur rocketry was an especially popular hobby in the late 1950s and early 1960s following the launch of Sputnik, as described in Homer Hickam's 1998 memoir Rocket Boys.

Improvised Rocket Motors by Desert Publications