Vehicle 39

The very first rocket ever featured in this blog, Vehicle 39 A Enigma, photographed on the occasion of a return to the location of its first flight in northeast Switzerland, on June 17, 1999, 13 years after the event.

Vehicle 39 was launched on an Aerotech E15-7W composite motor, from an Aerotech Mantis launch pad. The Mantis had originally been developed by Enertek, a company established in the late 1980s by Centuri's Lee Piester, together with Gary Rosenfield, Bill Stine, and Paul Hans. Unfortunately, Enertek failed to get off the ground, so to speak, and this truly versatile launch pad design (along with other items) later resurfaced a an Aerotech product. As with all of my launch pads, I added a slanted umbilical mast to my Mantis, in order to attach the ignition wires and thus reduce the weight which often threatens to pull the ignitor out of the motor.

Vehicle 39's flight was perfect, as was the deployment of the booster and payload section parachutes. The rocket carried two Estes Transroc II sonic beacons.

Photography by Erol Ünala.