The MiniSShot-2 launch occurred Saturday, May 7th at approximately 2 PM PDT at the FAR launch complex in the Mojave Desert.

The following is a brief preliminary report of the flight based on information reported by Rick Maschek and Chris King, who served as members of the launch crew.

There were a small number of minor glitches to deal with during launch preparations but the main delay was related to waiting in line behind other launches at the FAR site. As well, US Air Force jets were escorting a cruse missile (in test flight) across our airspace.

Liftoff was brisk and the first-phase motor burn appeared nominal, with a straight ascent with slight arcing. The 10 second coast delay also appeared to be nominal. The second-phase ignition appeared to occur on time and the restart plume was observed. A
slight shimmy was observed in the smoke trail early during the burn but it straightened out quickly. The burn continued and appeared nominal to burnout. There was no visual contact reported following burnout.

Recovery beacons were active during ascent with GPS telemetry to ground intermittent but ongoing. The Booster beacon was not reported after apogee, however, the Payload Capsule beacon was continually detected. Rick used last GPS reported location and tracking yagi to successfully locate the Payload Capsule, found not far from the launch site. It was discovered that the lightweight carbon-fibre Recovery Bay had fractured at approximately mid-span. The parachute shroud lines were stripped. The avionics, nevertheless, appeared to be in good condition, despite the apparent free fall to the desert floor. The Booster section apparently followed a ballistic trajectory and has not yet been recovered. Without a functioning beacon, recovery will be hampered.

Chris successfully downloaded the data from the flight computer, Chute Controller and Featherweight Parrot. Results of data analysis will be forthcoming in the near future. Photos and video will be posted as such become available.