posted 08-10-2008 09:41 AM               

As a child, Eves watched the historic launch of the Saturn V in 1969 on TV. Eves was captivated with space travel.

"Nobody ever built a rocket that did what the Saturn V did for this country," he said. "It was a victory."

Decades later, the Saturn V is serving as inspiration for Eves' most-epic project: Launching a 1,700-pound rocket powered by nine motors. Projected to reach about 4,000 feet, the rocket, 40 inches in diameter, will be propelled by solid-rocket fuel, generating an estimated 8,000 pounds of thrust and blazing a 30-foot trail of fire. Assembled by crane at the launch site on farmland in Price, Md., the rocket will be attached to a 50-foot steel-framed tower.

Four military-style parachutes, each 28 feet in diameter, will bring the 20-foot stage back to Earth. The amateur rocket is a 1/10 scale version of the legendary NASA rocket.

Rockets Magazine is the main sponsor. Another sponsor is PPG Industries, which supplied the paint. The magazine's website includes a special section about Eves' project.

posted 08-12-2008 05:21 PM               

The Saturn V will be powered by a matrix of nine motors: eight 13,000ns N-Class motors surrounding a central 77,000ns P-Class motor.

posted 08-19-2008 12:10 AM               

"It will either be spectacular or spectacular."

posted 03-25-2009 06:38 PM               

The possibility of flown covers was mentioned above. There won't be covers on board, but if you click on "Memorabilia" at the bottom of the page, you'll see that if you donate $50 towards the project you will get a flown patch... designed and signed by collectSPACE member Tim Gagnon!

posted 04-20-2009 02:26 PM               

Rocketry Planet: One man's quest to honor America's Saturn V rocket

On April 25, 2009, history will be made. At Higgs Farm in Price, Maryland, Steve Eves will enter the history books as the person who flew the largest model rocket in history. The rocket will weigh over 1,600 pounds, it will stand over 36 feet tall and it will be powered by a massive array of nine motors: eight 13,000ns N-Class motors and a 77,000ns P-Class motor. The estimated altitude of this single stage effort will be between 3,000 and 4,000 feet and the project will be recovered at apogee. In a special to Rocketry Planet, author Mark B. Canepa and ROCKETS Magazine wish to share Steve Eve's story with the readers here.

posted 04-25-2009 04:42 PM               

I caught up with him at the landing site and he looked very, very relieved to have his model back in good shape (can't say "one piece", as it came down in three sections). The bottom section, comprised of the S-IC and S-II, landed standing upright in the field, looking like it was ready to launch again!

I don't want to put a guess-timate on the number, but a lot of folks turned out to watch this... very strange coming around the corner and seeing a few hundred cars parked out in the fields of the Eastern shore.

Since the launch is already pretty well documented, here are my landing site photos. It had the feel of being at a Soyuz recovery! Several astronauts (Bean, Cunningham, Lousma, Garriott, Kerwin) had signed the CM.

posted 04-25-2009 06:02 PM               

All they needed was Walter Cronkite doing the color commentary.

posted 04-25-2009 10:58 PM               

Congrats to all involved... Work of art, work of passion and dedication! BRAVO!!!

posted 04-26-2009 07:41 AM               

quote:

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Originally posted by JPSastro:
Were there any national media outlets there covering this outstanding achievement?

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posted 04-29-2009 02:11 AM               

A guilty pleasure to benefit from someone's hard work, and crazy monetary investment.

posted 04-29-2009 09:48 AM            

I want one!

Perhaps Spacecraft Films will do a DVD on this Apollo mission, complete with 35mm launch footage and tracking cameras with commentary.

posted 05-05-2009 10:26 PM               

On Saturday, April 25th my wife Susanna, our son Benjamin, and I drove the 2.5 hours from the western suburbs of DC, around the Beltway, across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and into Maryland's Eastern Shore. I was worried about the visibility for the launch because it was quite muggy out - on a clear day one can see the Washington Monument miles up the Potomac as you cross the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, but that morning there was just haze.

The launch was scheduled for "between 12:00 and 2:00", and we tried to time our arrival carefully - too early and we'd be out in the heat for too long with a nine-month-old, but too late and we'd find a rapidly dissipating smoke trail. As it turned out, we got there ten minutes later than ideal - they were no longer allowing people to walk right up to the base of the rocket. It hadn't occurred to me that would be an option, so oh well. I was just relieved to see that the day had become clearer, and that after being sent back to a distance of 1,500 feet with everyone else, we had a fine view.

We spent the next hour listening to the occasional update being broadcast on an unused FM station, having a picnic lunch, and talking to some of our fellow spectators. I strolled over to talk to one of the launch team members, and instead fell into conversation with someone standing next to him. As we talked about our enthusiasm for the space program, I was happy to learn that he was not only a collectSPACE reader, but had also attended the November ASF event at KSC. In fact, he said "There was a guy there who had..." and then he proceeded to describe an item I'd brought. He'd been standing right next to me when I showed it to David Scott!

They sent up a small sounding rocket a few minutes before the launch, and confirmed that the wind was blowing slightly towards the crowd from the rocket. This meant (as the announcer warned over that FM station, coming out of dozens of car radio speakers) that they'd be launching this 36-foot, 1,600-pound rocket so that it would go directly over our heads before the parachutes deployed, so the wind would then carry it safely beyond us. Oh my. I did the tiniest bit of contingency planning of how to get my wife and baby under the nice solid GMC pickup parked next to us.

At this point I'll concentrate on the first YouTube video above, with the "WARNING Rocket Launch" sign showing. (If you are ever searching for it on YouTube.com, it was posted by "calendar16.") First, I like how two seconds before launch you see some cars about to pass by a few hundred yards in the background. If the drivers hadn't known about this event, I must admit I'd like to have heard their reactions to the launch. I'm guessing something along the lines of "Sacred poop!"

Now, in the quarter-mile-wide crowd of hundreds of people, dozens were filming it and there are a bunch of videos on YouTube. But upon later viewing, Susanna and I realized from the angle of this video (in my opinion the best one) that by coincidence the shooter must have been standing just about ten feet from us. Now, remember how the rocket reached apogee DIRECTLY OVER OUR HEADS, and for a few brief seconds had the potential to become a GMC-piercing giant javelin? Well, that aroused in me a mix of happiness that the liftoff had gone well, and slight I'm-gonna-need-new-tightie-whities concern. So that's my gleeful, maniacal laughter at 1:21 (you'll have to have the speakers turned way up, which could be a problem at 1:07) just before we saw the chutes come out. I sounded like a cross between a bloodthirsty pirate and a giddy schoolgirl. Most decidedly Wrong Stuff.

And that's my head at 3:44 that comes within a nanometer of completely blocking the excellent landing. I have no explanation for my hair, other than to say that I'd given my hat to Benjamin to play with.