Sentinel is a
Binder Design kit
that I modified to carry a 35mm camera for aerial photography. The
camera was deployed at apogee on its own parachute and shoots up a whole
roll of film as it descends to the ground. You can see some of the aerial
photos taken by Sentinel by clicking here.
Sentinel was built in early
1996 and it has flown a total of 39 times. Every one of those flights,
except the very first one, was on an I211 motor. The first flight was
without the camera and it flew on an H123 motor as my level-1 certification
flight. I always flew it on an I211 because it did exactly what I
wanted. Camera went up plenty high enough and the motor ejection delay
was just right. I had a system going that was very consistent and
reliable.
Unfortunately Sentinel was
destroyed at Black Rock in 2001 when my "system" broke down. It turns
out I got distracted and was a little bit careless and not paying attention
when assembling the delay element in the motor that day. Too much grease
ended up in the delay cavity and prevented the black powder ejection charge
from going off! It was totally my fault. The rocket came in ballistic,
and it and the camera were totally destroyed. This is a lesson I will
never forget. Too bad I lost an old favorite rocket learning it.
