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Podcasts Off-Ramp
To The Moon, in Miniature
Off-Ramp with John Rabe Hero Image
(
Dan Carino
)
Jul 11, 2009
To The Moon, in Miniature
I remember building and launching a Saturn V model rocket from a kit when I was a kid in the 1970s. it was the same rocket that pushed the astronauts to the moon 40 years ago. The kit was made by Estes, a Colorado-based company. Back then, I was more concerned with the difficulty of the model than the historic magnitude of the Saturn V. But keep reading for ... the rest of the story.
An old Estes model rocket catalogue.
An old Estes model rocket catalogue.
(
Estes
)

I remember building and launching a Saturn V model rocket from a kit when I was a kid in the 1970s. it was the same rocket that pushed the astronauts to the moon 40 years ago. The kit was made by Estes, a Colorado-based company. Back then, I was more concerned with the difficulty of the model than the historic magnitude of the Saturn V. But keep reading for ... the rest of the story.

I remember building and launching a Saturn V model rocket from a kit when I was a kid in the 1970s. it was the same rocket that pushed the astronauts to the moon 40 years ago. The kit was made by Estes, a Colorado-based company. Back then, I was more concerned with the difficulty of the model than the historic magnitude of the Saturn V. But keep reading for ... the rest of the story.

In truth, I'm not 100% sure now, thirty years after the fact, that I actually built the Saturn V.

It's entirely possible I just dreamed about building it. I certainly stared at the catalogue enough and looked long enough at the unbuilt kit at our local hobby store (Pinnacle Paints!) to have etched that model rocket into my brain as mine.

Have I committed my own Capricorn One hoax, but on myself? (The movie about a Mars expedition that didn't go off, so they lied about it.)

I know for sure I made a Mercury Redstone and a Lunar Lander -- the latter of which had cool spring-loaded feet and was supposed to land upright ... a moot point when it's coming down as fast as it did.

But did I just fantasize taking it the next step and building the complicated, beautiful, massive Saturn V? Perhaps my brothers Karl or James will remember correctly. Boys?

-- John Rabe