Kalistan

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Spear 1 successfully lifts off in Spencer



ISCA successfully launches first rocket
Rocket reaches 65.27 Miles in altitude before returning to Anantonese Ocean
Spencer Space and Test Center, Duchy of Suldanor
June 6, 5568

The first successful flight of the Spear Rocket was conducted today from the test pad of Spencer Space and Test Center in Spencer, Suldanor. The Chancellor of the Empire was on hand to observe the test, which featured a new engine design from Beiteynu that solved many of the issues with previous Kalistani designs.

"The rocket, known as Spear 1, flew about 106 km (65.8 mi) to the edge of space before descending back to earth," said Spencer Center director Dena Alonzo. "Spear 1 was a single stage liquid fuel rocket, and burned straight and clean for about 3 minutes before running out of fuel. On re-entry, much of the rocket was burned up, however, we were able to retrieve debris from the Anantonese Ocean and study it to make our future rockets better."

The success of the Spear rocket, about 8 years into Kalistan's space program, vindicates the effort and time that the Imperial Space and Communications Administration has put into the program. "This successful test flight is the next step in a long journey to begin placing Kalistani communications satellites, and perhaps weather satellites into orbit," said Alonzo. "Those satellites are still years away: We need to now focus on more powerful rocket engines capable of lifting objects into orbit, which poses rather different challenges than merely launching a rocket into low orbit and letting it fall back to the surface."

The Propulsion design center is already working on building new designs based on the Beiteynese design that was used in the Spear 1. "We will need to be able to burn longer, and will need to include guidance systems to ensure that the rocket rolls correctly to achieve low terra orbit," said Alonzo. "Plus we need to get the speed of the rocket up to something like 20 times the speed of sound so that it will stay in orbit. So we still have work to do."

Alonzo said ISCA has two more launches of test rockets scheduled for the remainder of the year. "Each launch, we hope to push the height of our flight further and further, said Alonzo. "We hope to include a camera on our next flight to take video of the flight and broadcast it back here to Spencer." Alonzo is optimistic about the progress. "The view should be amazing."