Mystery Solved: Stratofox Recovers CSXT Booster

Booster Search, Saturday November 20, 2004

On November 20, the first weekend following BLM's notification of where they found the booster, Jay Lawson and two friends, Perry Miller and Mike Cornish, ventured to the booster site. They were going riding in the desert anyway on this day so this gave them the destination they hadn't previously decided upon.

They were able to use some information from the August searches, which came very close to the same area. They succeeded in getting to the booster location and got us all the pictures we needed to plan the expedition to get it out of there.

Jay took pictures of the booster and some of the scattered debris for our planning purposes. With the booster having been recovered, these are now visible to the public for presentation of the history.

Some people may ask, why didn't they bring it out themselves? For one thing, the booster is too large to fit on any of their vehicles. But the big reason was because the people from CSXT who built the rocket would be arriving the following weekend. Weather permitting, they wanted to be there and we wanted them to be there.

Of course, in hindsight, we know that the weather forced Stratofox to go in on the following Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) and get it out just before a storm arrived.

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(640x480 36K) (500x375 23K) 		The road turns to a frozen mud lake as it begins its ascent into the mountains. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 37K) (500x375 43K) 		Rocky point where previous search stopped. 4 or 5 large rocks buried in road ready to eat your transmission. Beware!! (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 38K) (500x375 32K) 		This one looks easy, but while you are watching the big rock on the right, a small one is hiding in the brush on the left. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 204K) (500x375 47K) 		First closeup of the booster 11/20 (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 37K) (500x375 28K) 		Terrain at booster search area (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 201K) (500x375 34K) 		Mike Comish, Perry Miller and Jay Lawson with CSXT booster 11/20 (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 203K) (500x375 48K) 		Logo side of booster with Mike and Perry, route in to area in background (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 212K) (500x375 66K) 		bad photo of inside the crater. Best one I got. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 205K) (500x375 29K) 		Finally back to the paved road turnoff at the end of the day. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 201K) (500x375 54K) 		logo on the booster showing heat damage from flight (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 203K) (500x375 45K) 		GoFast logo on booster showing heat damage from flight. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 214K) (500x375 14K) 		This was a fantastic view of the Granite range south of the booster location at sunset. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 207K) (500x375 34K) 		Overall view of the area from the hill top above the booster area looking west. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 370K) (500x375 43K) 		View from uphill from the booster site with notes on how far debris spread. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(1280x960 206K) (500x375 16K) 		Nevada sunset on the way back to Gerlach. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 38K) (500x375 38K) 		Jay's Toyota up on the rocks in a canyon on the way out. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 37K) (500x375 44K) 		A group of wild mustangs at the bottom of a canyon on the drive in. These are similar to the horses the BLM was finding and counting when the helicopter spotted the booster. (photo by Jay Lawson)
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(640x480 37K) (500x375 42K) 		Same horses, different view. (photo by Jay Lawson)

Back up to the Stratofox search for the CSXT Booster