Cub Scout Graduation & Rocket Launch AAR

Monday night was the last Cub Scout Pack Meeting of the season. We held a brief "graduation" where the boys got their respective badges, gave a quick overview of the two summer outings we had planned, and then let the boys loose on pizza and lemonade. It was a hot, sunny afternoon which made for a warm clear evening; and just watching the boys run around with seemingly limitless energy made me tired.

My little Tiger Cub is now a Wolf. He's gotten through his first year of Scouting, and is eager to continue. I'm not getting out of this easy, apparently... :)

While the boys devoured their pizza in a manner reminiscent of a school of piranha skeletonizing a cow (I'm not exaggerating - some 30 something boys made a dozen pizzas vanish in less than 10 minutes), we set up for the rocket launch. We had twin launchers going (note to self for next year: add a third launcher), with the theory being to launch rockets in tandem. Most of the boys chose to run around wildly in the field where the rockets were expected to land in anticipation of catching one from the sky.

Now, I've got to take a step back here. Saying I was into model rockets when I was a kid would be an understatement on the order of saying I kinda like guns now. I had just about every model out there, up to and including the six-foot tall "Mean Machine", the Space Shuttle orbiter (with gliding shuttle, of course), and a couple dozen "Mosquito" rockets. I even got the large box 'o' parts and made my own rockets from scratch - one of my favorites was a C-engine powered monstrosity that I cobbled together with ¼" thick balsa wood fins and a streamer - it was heavy, so it came down quick, but the fins were strong enough to withstand the impact. It flew really high, and came down quickly so as to avoid trees (parachutes slow the rockets much better, but leave 'em hanging on windy days...)

So, needless to say, when they distributed the rocket kits I had my son's rocket finished by the end of the day. And then we postponed the launch due to weather... So we've been waiting nearly a month to set off this rocket.

My son's rocket wound up being the "test" rocket - it was used to show how to load the flame-retardant material used to insulate the streamer from the engine (otherwise you melt the streamer and the rocket hurtles back to earth at terminal velocity); how to load the engine in; how to attach the ignitor; and then it was loaded on the launch pad and set aloft. It flew straight and true, the streamer popping just as planned at the apex of the flight - the engines are designed with a propellant charge to get the rockets airborne and an additional charge when the propellant is expended that pops the nose-cone and releases the streamer or parachute for return to earth.

My son was amazed - for the second time in his Scouting career, something his dad made had performed exactly as expected. His rocket made two more launches, and worked exactly as expected both times thereafter. It even survived a direct impact with the parking lot!

The Scouts absolutely LOVED the rocket launch. Now, granted, getting 7-11 year old boys interested in things that are rocket-powered isn't exactly difficult (especially playing up the "blow stuff up" aspect, as I like to call it), but they were all enthralled with each launch. Every time a rocket made its way to terra firma, a small but determined pack of boys chased after it, all determined to be the one that caught it and delivered it safely to its owner.

At the end, while cleaning up, I was handed the big box 'o' rocket stuff. By this time next year, the current Cubmaster and the other Assistant Cubmaster will be gone, as their sons move on to Boy Scouts. I'll be in charge of the rocket launch. And I can safely state, without fear of contradiction, that I cannot freakin' wait for next year...

I wonder if I can get permission for a January launch... :)

That is all.