Launch Conditions: 33F, no wind, solid high gray overcast. About as good as it gets for flying rockets in Reno/Sparks in winter. Booster loaded with a Quest B6-0; upper stage with an Estes B6-6.

Trudged out to the middle school athletic field I like to use -- about the only modroc-size clear space we can fly from about half the year -- breaking snow and disturbing the geese who were enjoying the field during school vacation.

After one failed igniter (really need to get all of these out of my range supplies), got a good launch but it took a substantial angle away from the pad. Booster landed about 250 feet away. Upper stage landed under a good chute (hurray for folding technique!) about 600 feet away, in the next block. I found it on the sidewalk of a side street.

No damage to the upper stage but the booster is caved to one side. I'm betting when the boost motor activated, the cello-tape joint on the direct-staging setup flexed, so that the booster ended up at an angle to the upper stage and squished itself on the one-piece upper stage fin can. I guess I'm lucky -- if it had squished further, I might not have gotten staging.

Still: good launch, good staging, safe recoveries all the way around. I'm tempted to buy another Mongoose kit and build another booster. I've already worked out a prep checklist to minimize the risk of a repeat.

And that was my Boxing Day fun.

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