I've been involved in past years in the hobby of high-powered rocketry and I have to tell you that the rocket they launched seems pretty typical of the ones I saw launched from our meets. Some of the rockets the hobbyists built were as big or bigger than this one and relied on solid rocket motors using ammonia perchlorate for fuel. I can't imagine, if this rocket had solid propellant, that it was anything different. More than likely the only difference, if they intended to get that high, was just size of the motor.

Was this a guided rocket or was it only relying on fins to keep it straight? I just find it very difficult to believe that a single stage, solid-propellant, 20-foot rocket would be capable of the speeds and altitude they were attempting. The only attempts I saw in the hobby area to attain that kind of performance were from peroxide fueled, multi-stage vehicles.

I'm just very surprised at the altitude they expected. Unless they made huge improvements in power to weight ratio of this rocket, I just can't imagine a design like this being usable for commercial sub-orbital flights.

Art