Video: enthusiast builds and launches replica of classic British space rocket

By SCOTT MCCARTNEY
Published on 05/09/2012 18:27

INSPIRED by an exhibit in the National Museum’s Connect gallery, an amateur rocket maker has successfully launched his tribute to Britain’s rich history of space research.

One of Britain’s Black Knight rockets towers two storeys above exhibition-goers, a proud testament to the valuable space research done by the UK in the 1950s.

Now Ken Thomas has launched the 1:16 scale Black Knight model after careful and painstaking work which began when he first saw the original up close two years ago. The moment of truth was captured on video by Mitch Hamilton with his slow motion film showing the power of the mini rocket.

The real Black Knight, a crucial piece of space history, forms the centrepiece for the National Museum of Scotland’s Blast off exhibition.

The exhibition aims to inform, entertain and celebrate space travel and the technology involved, in what is sure to be an exciting adventure for space fans young and old.

The attraction features a real Gemini space capsule from NASA’s programme in the 1960s - the golden era of space flight - as well as a Gemini space suit which enables would-be astronauts to find out how they would breathe, survive, and communicate when out for a walk among the stars.

If you’ve ever wanted hands-on experience of just how a rocket works, you can find out the secrets of a hydrogen-powered propulsion system works in one of the exhibit’s experiments.

The Blast Off! exhibits can be seen at the National Museum of Scotland.