Our Astrocam Page

One of my favorite projects has been chasing the elusive aerial photograph using an Estes Astrocam (Estes #1327; built from a kit I ordered from Commonwealth Display's, Inc. , NOT the Ready To Fly version).  I never had enough money from my paper boy route when growing up to purchase an Estes CamRoc (or the Estes CineRoc, an 8mm movie camera payload!).

Here are some pictures of our 1990's vintage Astrocam:
Check out my success story!

	I was pretty lucky catching it at lift off with this shot.  Most other attempts either caught it still on the pad or missed it completely.
It really flew (RockSim and other programs say it probably flew to ~500 feet with the Estes C6-7 engine).
	A nice gentle recovery...
I finally got a recognizable picture! This was shot at ~1pm on 9/3/99 using 200 ASA Kodak 110 film. The rocket flew on a C6-5 (instead of the recommended C6-7), since I was hoping to get a shot as it was tipping over (shorter delay should cause the camera to snap a picture before the rocket is fully pointed straight down). It DID, just not where I thought it would point! This picture shows some houses across the street from my launch site!
	9/5/99 launch at ~1pm, using faster film (400 ASA). I'll post pictures later if they turn out! Anyway, I was 100 meters away and still caught it as Kim launched it!
Current status:  The fins fell off recently (after the 9/5/99 launch above), but I glued the assembly back on and we'll keep flying it.  After ~10 flights, I have one fuzzy aerial picture of some houses near where I work (above).  Tip-Follow the directions about launching near mid-day (MotoPhoto politely told me my 6pm photo wasn't worth trying to print...).
10/24/99-SUCCESS! We finally got a beautiful launch around 2pm on Sunday, using Kodak 400 ASA film on a crystal clear afternoon. The picture to the left is of the Wilmette Junior High, taken from about 500 feet up on a C6-7 engine!