Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 09-28-2011 06:42 AM
I came across this strictly by chance. There is a new show airing on the National Geographic Channel on Wednesday nights called Rocket City Rednecks. It focuses on a group of individuals that live in the Huntsville, AL area as they use a combination of rocketry and science to solve some interesting problems. Some ARE rocket scientists while others have them in their families. One even worked with von Braun.
I had NO idea this was in the works. I certainly plan to watch.
space4u Member
Posts: 323 From: Cleveland, OH USA Registered: Aug 2006
posted 09-28-2011 07:19 AM
Thanks for the heads up. It premieres tonight, Sept. 28 at 9 PM eastern time on National Geographic Channel.
Robert Pearlman Editor
Posts: 42981 From: Houston, TX Registered: Nov 1999
posted 09-28-2011 07:44 AM
National Geographic Channel's promo video for "Rocket City Rednecks"...
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 09-28-2011 10:34 PM
These are 30 minute long episodes (perfect length as they get to the point and don't expand with family issues or stuff like that, such as what Discovery does). Tonight they aired four episodes back to back. First up was beer can armor plating (impressive), second up was moonshine rocket fuel (excellent). Then we got to the really absurd with reckneck Ironman exo-suit (I was laughing like crazy) and finally there was the redneck submarine which almost ended in disaster.
I must say, this show is certainly interesting and has its own strange vibe. It is kind of like Mythbusters meets NASA, Bill Dance Outdoors, Sons of Guns and Top Gear all rolled into one. The gratuitous use of rockets doesn't hurt either. How come we never did cool stuff like that when I went to Space Camp in 1985?
Jay Chladek Member
Posts: 2272 From: Bellevue, NE, USA Registered: Aug 2007
posted 10-13-2011 08:37 AM
Well, at three weeks they've aired 8 episodes so far. Last week it was the comet buster system and the simulated mission to Mars in a run down camper (complete with a urine recycling system). This week, part 1 was a radio telescope array and part 2 was an airborne video surveillance platform.
Of these four episodes, the comet buster seemed like an excuse to blow up things with guns. But, they did a really nice experiment showing that the Armageddon method of drilling a hole in a comet (using a watermelon for the simulator) would just cause the explosion to come out the hole and the comet would remain. The special ammo was nice though.
The mission to Mars segment seemed like one of the dumbest ideas of the bunch, but the urine water recycler system was nice to see in action and the shell of the Martian habitat seemed like pure genius (layer a crater with foil, spray expanding foam in it, wait for it to harden and it forms an instant igloo). Not sure how well the concept could be adapted to Mars, but it was innovative.
The radio telescope one was very wild to watch as they made a miniature Arecibo telescope (not the easiest thing in the world to build). The bit where they were going to scrounge a Direct TV dish from Ron's motor home seemed kind of staged though.
The aerial recon platform was very cool. But, I wish they would have said their "hardware" store was really a hobby shop as I don't know of too many hardware stores that stock SIG brand aircraft plywood (you could see the logo on a piece of wood) and brushless motors for electric ducted fans (let alone a lipo battery, RC receiver and a brushless ESC to run the things).
My favorite character so far is Charles (the old school retired machinist from the early Marshall SFC days). The matter of fact comments he makes with a level of reservation in his voice as Travis takes things out of his garage to cannibalize is just funnier than heck to watch. Part of it is probably an act, but I don't think it took much acting to get that from him.
fredtrav Member
Posts: 1673 From: Birmingham AL Registered: Aug 2010
posted 10-26-2011 08:56 PM
On one of tonight's episodes, they are building a "man rated" rocket. So far it looks impressive.
The earlier one was building a party boat with a kegerator, TV, and DVD player and laptop, all powered by hydroelectric power.
posted 09-28-2011 06:42 AM
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