Pictures from the Paragon Dragoon II Launch, June 6-7, 2004

Arrival and wind storm
Sunday, June 6, 2004

Images of this event were posted with permission of Paragon Astronautics.

Everyone always has a long drive to get to Black Rock - some longer than others. The Paragon crew drove from Denver, Colorado and other locations. The Stratofox crew drove from the areas around San Jose and San Francisco, California.

The Stratofox group left the Bay Area before dawn. With stops in Sacramento and Reno, each leg of the trip is about 2 hours. We arrived at the Paragon launch site while setup was just beginning.

After being shown Paragon's newly-built launch pad and rail, we went to the flight line. The wind picked up to an afternoon-long sand storm. We didn't set up the Stratofox camp until the winds calmed down.

The wind also interefered with the launch countdown rehearsal. We could practice the radio communications and Paragon was able to rehearse some of the countdown. But as time went on and the winds just got worse, they were just too strong to rehearse everything.

So we had to leave that for Monday morning. Everyone was hopeful that we wouldn't unnecessarily miss a launch window since we only had five of them (one each day, Monday through Friday.)

[picture]
(1536x1024 952K) (500x333 18K) 		Paragon's trailer (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 1109K) (500x333 28K) 		Ben and Scooter (Mark's dog) next to Mark's vehicle. Mark is behind his vehicle, not visible in this view. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 901K) (500x333 21K) 		Dave (front) and Justin (under hatchback) talk while Justin gets some of his stuff out of Dave's vehicle. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 1050K) (500x333 21K) 		Justin takes pictures of the launch pad (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 1021K) (500x333 22K) 		Stratofox vehicles are parked near the launch pad during setup. Justin is taking pictures of the launch pad. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 940K) (500x333 18K) 		Mark begins pounding a pole into the ground to hold his launch pad camera. Ben watches and then makes a suggestion. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1024x1536 977K) (500x750 45K) 		Ben helps install the pole for Mark's pad camera. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 1076K) (500x333 28K) 		The flight line has been established by parking the trailer 1/4 mile away. Some of the attendees take shelter in the shade. But this position will soon also be shelter from the wind. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 832K) (500x333 25K) 		Justin operates the Ham Radio in Ian's truck, talking with other Stratofox members during the rehearsal of Stratofox's launch roles. This position is operating under the tactical callsign of "Stratofox Base", though several of us rotated through operating the position. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 470K) (500x333 4K) 		Karl Gross N7MXO does a fly-by in his Mooney airplane. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 517K) (500x333 7K) 		Karl Gross N7MXO does a fly-by in his Mooney airplane. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 527K) (500x333 8K) 		Karl Gross N7MXO does a fly-by in his Mooney airplane. He'll be back at dawn when the surface winds calm down. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 745K) (500x333 15K) 		Standing in this picture are Kevin Sagis (left) and his father Victor (right). Notice that Victor has to lean into the wind since he isn't protected by the trailer where he is. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 756K) (500x333 17K) 		As the wind speed increases to gale force, sand and dust are carried by it. Everyone seeks shelter behind a vehicle. The Stratofox team did not set up camp at all during the day due to the high winds. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 685K) (500x333 15K) 		Anyone walking on the upwind side of the trailer has to keep their heads down to keep the sand out of their eyes. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 759K) (500x333 10K) 		Drivers stop to talk as they're heading opposite directions between the flight line and launch pad. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 801K) (500x333 12K) 		Nate walks back to the flight line after successfully chasing down and catching some paper which blew away from camp. As much as everyone tries to avoid this, it happens during windy conditions. You have to chase down all of them that there's any chance of catching. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 831K) (500x333 21K) 		Dave is ready to take Laura (Flight Safety Officer and Kevin's sister) downrange to talk with some campers whose position was reported by Karl from the plane. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 833K) (500x333 17K) 		The sand storm rages through the afternoon. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 755K) (500x333 14K) 		The sand storm rages through the afternoon. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 997K) (500x333 23K) 		Preparations continue inside the trailer (and at the launch pad, not shown in this picture.) Others who don't have an active role at the time seek shelter on the downwind side of the trailer. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)
[picture]
(1536x1024 902K) (500x333 24K) 		Ian demonstrates how much you can lean into the wind at the corner of the trailer, where the wind speed is locally increased. (photo by Nate Dietrich KG6ESJ, using Ian's camera)
[picture]
(1536x1024 916K) (500x333 19K) 		Justin (left) monitors the Ham Radio as the "Stratofox Base" station. Dave (right) is back from the drive downrange to talk with campers. Stratofox members are sheltering from the wind behind Ian's truck. (photo by Ian Kluft KO6YQ)

Back: Paragon Dragoon II Launch Up: Paragon Dragoon II Launch Next: Monday morning

Images of this event were posted with permission of Paragon Astronautics.

This page is copyright (c) 2004, 2005 by Stratofox. Images are copyrighted by their photographers.