Rocket Boys

A story told by guest blogger, Jacob.


Four years ago, Jacob bought a rocket kit for Ethan and Rhys to mess about with. Really, this was a toy for Jacob, but he says it was for the boys. Jacob put the kit together since neither of the boys had gathered the requisite skills to assemble anything more complicated than a finger painting or a crayola masterpiece.

After the glue in the rocket had dried, the boys carried their creation to the baseball fields by the Tigard elementary school and prepared to launch. In addition to the rocket, the kit came with an battery powered launching remote, igniters, motors, and a launch pad. They could not have been more prepared. With the rocket fueled up and sitting on the pad, they wired up the remote and stood back. Excitement coursing through every muscle and nerve, they chanted the time honored mantra from rocket boys of yesterday. Ten. Nine. Eight. "How high do you think it will go, Dad". Seven. Six. "I don't know, buddy. Maybe a mile!" Five. Four. Three. "Wow! Maybe, ten miles!" Two. One. Blast Off!

"I said...Blast OFF!"

Jacob says that either bad igniters or humidity foiled their launch that day. We'll never truly know. Regardless, they returned crestfallen. Their rocket had failed to launch. The rocket was put in a box for another day, but that day turned into weeks, then months, then years. Sadly, the poor Alpha III sat in a box collecting dust.

Four years later, a friend of the boys invited them to his Cub Scouts rocket launch party. The air was filled with the whoosh of rocket motors and the sounds of recovery teams scrambling to be the first to get the spent rockets. Ethan recovered eight, and Rhys recovered three that day. The car ride home was filled with talk of resurrecting the long forgotten Alpha III.

The next day, Jacob returned from work laden with fresh igniters and rocket motors. The boys recovered the long forgotten rocket from the lonely grasp of storage. They tested the remote and made small adjustments. Finally, they steeled themselves for the long wait until launch day on the weekend.

Launch day was a day of mixed successes and failures. After being thwarted twice at the movie theaters, the boys were looking for a positive note to end the day on.

Anxiously, they gathered their rocket gear and made their way to the Windermere Primary Launch Site. Ethan set up the pad. Jacob set the motor and igniter and placed the rocket on the pad. Rhys gently placed the remote controls connecting wires to the igniter terminals. They stood back and marveled at their creation under the blue Texas skies. Ethan boldly inserted the key into the remote and began the mantra. Ten. Nine. Eight. Do you think the igniters will work this time, Dad?" Seven. Six. Five. "I hope so, buddy." Four. Three. "How high do you think it will go?" Two. One. "Maybe, a mile!" Blast Off!









"Oh, no! Ignition failure" groaned Ethan. Jacob, who was standing over Ethan's shoulder, suggested that Ethan release his death grip on the safety switch to allow the sensitive circuitry to operate correctly. Ethan adjusted his grip and the electrons streamed out of the remote's batteries down 30 feet of fine copper cable. The electrons collided with the igniter's volatile molecules. The igniter spent itself in a tiny spark. The spark agitated the solid fuel inside the motor. The motor erupted in a torrent of fire and hot gas. In the blink of an eye, the rocket jumped off the pad and soared into the sun.

The boys stood with their mouths gaping. They had lift off! In just a few moments, the rocket had climbed to over a thousand feet. The motor wheezed out a final pop, ejecting the recovery parachute and ending the magnificent climb. The spent rocket dangled from the blossomed parachute like a dandelion seed. The rocket seemed to hang there motionless.

The rocket began to sway with the new wind that was pushing through the Windermere Primary Launch site. The soaring rocket began to drift towards Grand Avenue parkway. Ethan yelled "It's heading for the street"! In seconds, the wind had picked up, and the rocket began a new and terrifying journey. Jacob quickly snatched up the rocket pad and remote while calling for the boys to run to the car.

The rocket floated over the street and over the old folks home, sinking slowly out view. The boys drove in the general direction of the sinking rocket hoping to catch a glimpse of their fallen rocket. They eagerly navigated the labyrinthine neighborhood. Desperation began to sink in. Their reconnaissance was fruitless. "I think it went into the old folks home parking lot" said Ethan. Unfortunately, the gate was locked and the staff had gone home. "Well boys, I think we lost this one" said Jacob.

Yet again, the boys returned home crestfallen. This time they weren't completely defeated. Despite their loss of their first rocket, they were buzzing with the excitement of the launch. "I love the sound of the rocket taking off" shouted Rhys. "Yeah, me too" exclaimed Ethan. "When are we going to get a new Rocket" shouted the boys.

Yesterday, we returned from Hobby Lobby with new rockets in hand. T-minus too long to wait until launch!