Here's one of my favorite shots from the February Orlando R.O.C.K. section launch.
Roger Smith (rocketreviews.com, payloadbay.com and jonrockets.com) takes some incredible launch pictures.
Check out the smoke from the back of the (soon to be released) UP! Cup odd-ball rocket.
The smoke seems to be curling around from some sort of strange vacuum created by the cup wall.
We both thought the picture captured some sort of vortex phenomenon.
Well, maybe not . . .
I went to look at some gallery pictures of the launch at rocketreviews.com.
After reviewing the launch sequence shots in order I realized the strange smoke was not smoke at all. The picture at the left was a few frames before the mystery smoke shot above.
That's our section president Brian Coyle directly behind the UP! Cup. He's the RSO for the day and pressing the launch button.
In the upper picture the cup is about 5 inches above the blast deflector. Brian's white shirt is just coming into view under the cup. Brian's head is covered by the cup and the "V" collar of his shirt is perfectly centered around the engine flame.
Mystery solved! Even so, the upper shot still looks cool.
That's me... International man of mystery. :)
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