Sorry for the long delay updating this blog. 

            Capt Danger left just before Christmas with his brother Mohammad to visit the homeland.  Capt Danger and his brother left a note.  I am not going to share it, word for word, as it is a private message for me, but I will say that he and Mohammad are going back home for a family emergency.  He says he will write soon…

-pf

             We received an unusual visitor on Friday night this last weekend.  Apparently Capt Danger has a twin brother that I didn’t know about.  His name is Major Mohammad Ayham Danger.  I know what you’re thinking, but in the Stunt Monkey service a Captain outranks a Major. 

            For the time being Mohammad will be staying in the Captain’s quarters.  I spoke to Capt and asked if he was expecting a visit from his brother.  I also had to ask why he never spoke about a twin brother before.  He replied that he wasn’t expecting to ever see his brother again.  Apparently they had a falling out over a girl during stunt school.  He does not know the reason behind the sudden un-announced visit.

            On Saturday I found Capt and Mohammad out by the fire pit late at night.  They obviously had a heated discussion.  I didn’t disturb them nor did I try to listen in on their conversation.  The next morning I found that they went through an entire pack of Double Monkey, banana flavored chewing gum.  This can’t be a good sign…

 Important news update:  The first launch of the (Danger-Mobile) is scheduled for tomorrow, November 18.  This is a test launch, so we will be using a known motor to prove the sky worthiness of this vehicle.  The motor used will be the Road Runner G-80 with a 10 second parachute delay. 

Wish Capt Danger good luck on his next adventure.

 Latest update:  Here is a video of Capt Dangers capsule ready for a night luanch!

Here is some reveling news about our monkey friends in New Delhi.  

The usual suspects for wild animals invading our human cities are:

1.  Crowding them out of their natural environment. (In this case, building cities and chopping down forests)

2.  Removing their natural predators.  (Tigers?)

In New Delhi we have another culprit to add to the mix.  The monkey is a revered symbol with devout Hindus. So people feed and care for the monkeys.  But it gets worse.  To aggravate the issue another monkey wrench is thrown in the machinery.  (Pun intentional)  Apparently the only monkey in catcher employed by the city has resigned because he was fed up with being harassed by animal rights advocates.So the monkeys are in charge.  The population will grow, and people will eventually have to do something about the over population.  I wonder what faction will win; the people who feel monkeys have the same rights as humans, the people who revere monkeys as religious symbols or the people who eventually get sick and tired of all the monkey business.  An unusually cold winter may solve the problem in a crueler manor.  Monkeys, I guess, also have the right to freeze to death.Power to the monkeys!-CD

 Here are more monkeys on the web. 

Attack of the Capuchin monkey clones?  Check out this link to some valuable research.  Scientists are helping to re-populate an endangered species while helping humans at the same time.  What a deal.

While some monkeys are threatened with extinction others are a threat from over population.  Check out the problems in New Deli with the growing wild monkey problem

The down side of Monkey research is that humans may inadvertently create a new race of monkeys that will blur the lines between humans and animals.  Check out the crazy brain injecting science.  Planet of the apes may not be as far fetched as we once believed.  Capt Danger says he will be a kind task master.

Here is an example of what Capt Danger finds funny.  Not safe for kids.

 Launch canceled due to high winds.  The motor is loaded, the monkey is willing, and the deployment charges are set, however, the weather is not cooperating

            The launch of Norbert will be rescheduled for a date early in 2008.  The NCR 2008 launch calendar will be hammered out at the annual meeting in December. 

            Not all is a loss, the next scheduled NCR launch if for 12/1/07 at the Atlas site.  This sounds like the perfect venue for testing the (as yet un-named) stunt monkey rocket. The paint is drying as I write this and photos will be forthcoming.  It is quite the machine.  Lots of flashing lights, and a control panel for Capt. Danger this will be quite the memorable rocket. 

            Rocketry is not a summer only hobby.  The stunt monkey works all year round testing rockets, exercising, and training.  He is a hard working monkey.

                 Tomorrow is the big day for Capt. Danger.  Norbert is just about ready to fly and his own rocket is nearing completion.  I am still looking for a name for Capt. Danger’s rocket.  Danger Mobile has been suggested, but I am not quite sold yet on that name.  The rocket color scheme is yellow and blue, the same as Capt. Danger’s flight suit and parachute.  The rocket is designed for night launches so I installed 16 flashing L.E.D.s around the perimeter of the nose cone, hopefully this makes it easier to find.  I will attempt to make a small home movie for this effect to share later.

            So calling all Capt. Danger fans….I need a name for his first rocket.  Serious attempts only, please don’t suggest any name that implies bananas.  Capt. Danger doesn’t find this funny.

            I have been working on a rocket for Capt Danger to fly.  Not just as a parachuting payload but as captain and pilot.  The design parameters for this rocket are as follows:

1.  The rocket must fit Capt. Danger.

2.  The rocket must have a window in a capsule so Capt Danger can have a view of the flight.

3.  The rocket must have positive motor retention and function on a pyrotechnic ejection system integral to the motor.

4.  The power range for the rocket will be G and H class motors.  This is not only to keep the attitude down to a reasonable level but to enable night launches.  (Tripoli Rules G motors and below)

5.  Fin design to limit breakage upon hard inpact.

6.  Lighted consol for Capt Danger to be found easily in the dark. 

7.  Warning labels to protect stunt monkey from aggressive recovery from children.

            I am not completely done with entering data for a proper flight simulation due to changing weight parameters (Stunt monkey needs to go on a diet.)  So in other words I have know idea how high he will fly or how many G forces he will encounter.  Do not worry; I will not fly Capt. Danger with out knowing exactly what hazards he will encounter.

            So here is what the capsule looks like so far.

And here are the warning labels I have created to help prevent damage to Capt Danger in the instance of an unwarranted invasion of his capsule by hostile forces.  (Kids)

And here is the booster section.  The capsule will be attached at the top of this section.

More information and pictures will be posted as I come closer to completing construction. 

-PF

Stunt monkey trainer.

 Monkey News:

Actual CNN headline:  Monkeys flee research center, keepers trying to lure them with bananas.

            As a human being I have to endorse research that benefits mankind, as long as it is conducted as humanly as possible.  However, when I hear about some monkeys escaping and hiding in nearby woods I have to laugh.  Not at the monkeys, but at the scientists that are trying to lure the monkeys back into the lab.  I hope the monkeys give them a hell of a time.   My heart goes out to anything or anyone that escapes captivity and seeks the freedom of wilderness.  Go monkeys go! Run like the wind! Scientists and zoo keepers that are careless enough to underestimate monkeys deserve what they get.

            Capt. Danger holds quite a different stance on monkey research.  He firmly believes that if the research is important and the benefits worthy then the monkeys should volunteer.  He also doesn’t understand why humans do not seek volunteers from our prison population in exchange for more comfortable living conditions and shorter sentences.  Monkey logic is hard to argue.  He is after all a volunteer stunt monkey, and is free to leave anytime he wants.  Also he spends a lot of time watching late night television, which fills his head with all kinds of bad ideas.

            Monkey research is ethically a slippery slope.  Who decides when research is necessary and who determines what is cruel? What is the price that humans are willing for monkeys to pay for a cure for aids?  Can there be objective criteria when it comes to animal experimentation?  The animals can not be properly consulted.  The fact that we can’t talk to animals, however, may be a good thing.  I am sure Dr. Doolittle got an ear full from chickens about their nuggets.   

            I sometimes worry about government run labs.  Private industry is responsible for following animal cruelty laws made by government.  These laws are usually established by special interest groups and animal rights advocates.  Whether or not this is a good method or enforced enough not is irrelevant, at least there is a process.  With in Government labs these laws are not enforceable.  Anything can be made secret in the name of national security, or more recently Home Land security.  Hopefully the people who work there will be responsible human beings and do what is right. 

            Before you get all choked up about the poor innocent monkeys being abused in Labs and speed dial PETA, educate yourself on the subject. 

Go Here

Then go here

When your brain is just starting to hurt from talk about science and medicine go  here No need to think much, emotions are all you need.

            Make up you mind and act as you see fit.  Just try to be logical and a bit introspective about your emotions. 

Just cause you got the monkey off your back doesn’t mean the circus has left town.

-George Carlin

            How I can both be in favor of scientific research on monkeys and cheer their escape?  Because I love an exhibition of freedom, the monkeys didn’t volunteer for experiments. 

            I like to think of monkey experimentation as a prisoner of war camp.  The war is against disease, both human and monkey.  The inmates are the monkeys.  It is the inmate’s duty to attempt escape, harass the guards, and generally make a nuisance out of themselves.  The guards (Scientists) job is to keep them there, not punish them for doing their duty, make their stay as humane as possible, and win the war.

            Capt. Danger wants to know how to send the escaped monkeys some bananas.

“We’ve all heard that a million monkeys banging on a million typewriters
will eventually reproduce the entire works of Shakespeare.
“Now, thanks to the Internet, we know this is not true.”
– Professor Robert Silensky of California University

             This weblog is in honor of all the brave primates who paved the way to space.  They didn’t exactly volunteer but they are all heroes nevertheless.  These monkeys were used to assess the risks of space on biological organisms.  Monkeys were used because they were closest to human beings, biologically.  The United States, France, and the Soviet Union launched rockets with monkeys aboard.  Most of these launches were between 1948 and 1961.

The sad flight log of Albert:

Albert, a rhesus monkey, was the first monkey astronaut, who on June 11, 1948 rode on in a V2 rocket to 39 miles.  He died of suffocation during the flight.

After this flight a whole series of monkeys were launched in V2 Rockets and each died in violent and undesirable ways.  Each monkey was named Albert.

Albert II became the first monkey to reach space alive, but died on impact on June 14, 1949.

Albert III died at 35,000 feet in an explosion of his V2 rocket in September 16, 1949.

Albert IV died on impact upon returning to earth after reaching over 100 miles altitude.

He was the last monkey used while testing V2 Rockets

On April 18, 1951, an Aerobee rocket was launched with a monkey payload, possibly named Albert V.  He died due to parachute failure.
Albert will be remembered as a hero and pioneer in his field.

Then monkey luck started to turn around.

On December 13, 1958, Gordo, a squirrel monkey, survived being launched aboard Jupiter AM-13. He died due to failure of the parachute recovery system.

Finally on May 28, 1959, aboard a Jupiter AM-18, Able, a rhesus monkey, and Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, became the first living beings to successfully return to Earth after traveling in space.

In 1959 a rhesus monkey named Sam, flew on the Little Joe 2 during the Mercury program to 53 miles high

However there were some setbacks in the early 60s.

            A squirrel monkey named Goliath, died in the explosion of his Atlas rocket on November 10, 1961 and a rhesus monkey called Scatback flew a sub-orbital flight on December 20, 1961 but was lost at sea after landing. 

Space Ham

A chimpanzee’s success story.

            After four years of intensive training Ham, a Chimpanzee, was blasted off inside a Mercury capsule atop a Redstone rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on January 31, 1961. His mission was to prove that live animals aboard a spacecraft could carry out their jobs during launch, weightlessness and reentry. The monkey was trained to pull leavers by auditory commands for rewards.

            Unfortunately, Ham’s rocket overshot and boosted his capsule to a speed of 5,857 mph more than 1,457 mph faster than planned.  He was weightless for a total of 6.6 minutes. The excess power shot the capsule 122 miles off course. Even so, Ham was able to perform his tasks almost perfectly.

            The Mercury capsule landed far outside the Atlantic Ocean target zone at 60 miles from the nearest recovery ship. The capsule was battered by waves and tears in the landing bag capsized the craft. When an open cabin pressure relief valve let sea water in and was beginning to submerge a Navy rescue helicopter managed to snag the craft and lift it and 800 pounds of sea water out of the ocean. After dangling all the way to a ship, the capsule was lowered to the deck, Ham came out in good condition.

                        Ham survived and spent his retirement at the National Zoological Park at Washington, D.C.. The success of his Mercury capsule flight led directly to the launch of Alan Shepard on America’s first human suborbital flight on May 5, 1961.

These brave monkeys deserve credit for the lives they saved.

            With out these brave monkey sacrifices many men would have died in the pursuit of space travel.  There were many protests from PETA and other organizations, about the use of Monkeys in America and Dogs in the Soviet Union for space research.  There was no lack of human astronauts that would gladly volunteer to ride in space and be human test subjects.  Using these monkeys saved many human lives and paved our way into space.