Descent

Noah StaintonAerospace engineering · Texas Tech Honors College applicant
Launch day, August 1, 2026

Apogee

The top of the flight. The motor burns for under a second. After that the rocket coasts, slowing the whole way up, until it stops for an instant. That instant is when the parachute has to come out.

0.9 smotor out4.7 scoasting up5.5 s · 2,056 ftapogee, chute out148 s under the chute
Too earlyThe rocket is still fast, so the chute opens hard and can tear or strip its lines.
Too lateThe rocket has already tipped over and is falling nose first.
On timeThe rocket is nearly still, so the chute opens gently.
Noah sliding his rocket onto the launch rail
Noah loading the rail
Noah’s rocket leaving the rail on a column of smoke
Off the rail
Club members wiring a rocket on the pad
Club launch, Sept 5, 2026
Noah and a club member working at a table covered in rocket parts
Workshop at home
Launch, Aug 1, 2026
Noah and a club member holding a finished rocket
Finished and ready to fly
A rocket lifting off the pad on a bright flame
Liftoff
A rocket standing on the launch rail against a gray sky
On the rail, Aug 1, 2026

V2 Prototype

Designed and built by Noah. Flown multiple times.
38.25 inches, 428 grams. Modeled in OpenRocket, then built to the model. This 3D view is generated from his design file.
What’s inside. The parachute rides in the body tube, wrapped in a fire blanket so the ejection charge doesn’t melt it.
Every part. Each one was weighed on a scale. The model uses the measured weights.
Where the weight goes. The nose cone and tube are more than half of it. The epoxy is the only number found by subtraction.
Balance point: 22.25 in from the tip. For a stable flight it has to sit ahead of the spot where the air pushes on the rocket. The fins move that spot back.
428 g assembled

How it was built

01Fins cut to specRoot 5.0 in, tip 2.0 in, span 2.75 in, cut from 1/8 in birch.
02Fins through the wallEach fin has a 4.75 in tab that passes through a slot in the tube and glues to the motor mount, not just the outside skin.
03Rings placed from the tabsThe notches in the fin tabs set where the centering rings go: 4.625 in apart.
04Weighed, then modeledParts weighed one by one. Epoxy found by subtracting them from the 428 g total: 20 g.
A birch fin with a marked tab fitted against the motor mount tube
Fin canEach tab is measured and marked before it’s glued to the motor mount.
Ground testBefore it flies, the ejection charge is fired on the ground to prove the nose and chute come out clean.
Five finished rockets standing in a row in a living room
Built at homeFinished rockets, lined up in the living room.

Fin flutter

Fly fast enough and a fin starts to shake like a plucked ruler, then tears off. Noah worked the flutter-speed equation for a Stanford graduate student’s rocket built to pass Mach 1.3.

An article on how to calculate fin flutter speed, open on a laptop
The source: how to calculate fin flutter speed
Fin flutter speed equations worked out in Desmos
Working it in Desmos

5.5 seconds up.148 seconds down.

V2’s simulated flight. The climb is over almost at once. The rest is descent, and the wind pushes the rocket the whole way. In a 10 mph wind it would drift about 0.4 miles before landing.

Under canopy, Aug 1 launch
Time5.5 s
Speed3 mph
EventApogee
A rocket and its parachute lying in dry grass after landing

Recovered.

Club launch, September 5, 2026. Nose, tube, and chute on the ground together, ready to fly again.

What’s next

The next build is a weather balloon payload meant to climb past 100,000 feet and come back down under a parachute. Noah is coding its GPS flight computer and laser-cut the frame.

In progress
V2 apogee2,056 ft
Mount Everest29,032 ft
Airliner cruiseabout 35,000 ft
Balloon target100,000+ ft
The flight computer powering up on the breadboard
Breadboard with a GPS module, sensors, and a small microcontroller wired together
GPS, sensors, and the microcontroller, before soldering
A laser-cut wooden triangle frame with camera mounts, a red parachute, a radar reflector, and a 1,500 gram weather balloon box
Laser-cut frame, parachute, and the 1,500 g balloon

Field work

Since he was 15, Noah has run heavy equipment and surveyed land for C&C Dirt Contracting, grading foundations for homes, buildings, lakes, and creeks.

Also

TrackVarsity 300 m hurdles and 4x400. Cut 4 seconds in one season and placed 2nd at district.
LifeguardRed Cross certified at Rock’N River Water Park. Five water rescues.
FIRST RoboticsRobot designer for the team’s highest placement in school history.
Web designThree business websites built and launched. The second client came by referral.
SewingSelf-taught in 8th grade. Used it to repair a rocket parachute’s shroud line.
Pug Rescue AustinFostered rescue pugs until they found homes.
Next

Texas Tech

Noah is applying to the Honors College to study aerospace engineering. He wants to build with the Space Raiders, who won the 10,000 ft student-built division at the 2026 International Rocket Engineering Competition.