Day Three

Sure enough, it’s Kathy’s design that works the best out of the three, and it's the one we decide to go with. But what about the payload? Iain and Ellen have spent the last two days designing a parachute and release mechanism that will allow the egg and camera, once launched, to fall back to the ground without breaking. All that needs to be done now is to knit their parachute and its payload together with the chosen rocket design. Then it's simply a matter of tweaking things so that the parachute’s released just as the rocket reaches its maximum height.

Fortunately Kathy’s water-pressure rocket is one that can be launched over and over again without too much fussing about. This allows for plenty of trial-and-error launches. After 50 or so of these hilarious test flights, we’re ready to film an attempt at launch and landing. As things turn out, it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly. On our first filmed attempt, the parachute is released at just the right moment, and the egg falls slowly to the ground … unbroken. Who said this was Rocket Science! Our combined efforts produce another hard-won success - a rather satisfying ending to this fourth Rough Science series. Here's to Rough Science Five.