As read in the earlier blog, Orville Carlisle patented the first single stage model rocket, and had flown it using his self-manufactured solid rocket motors. Still, concerned for the safety of the amateur rocketeers however, he sent his models to Harry G. Stine, the range operations division head that time, with whom he had gotten acquainted through the Popular Mechanics Magazine. Stine flew all the models on his open grounds and then devised a safety handbook for the same. He also built the ‘Mable’; the high-speed automatic rocket motor fabricator, which began fabricating safe solid rocket single-use motors on a large scale.
Harry G Stine
Soon after launching though, ‘Model Missiles’, Carlisle’s company started facing reliability and delivery issues, owing to which, they approached ‘Vern Estes’, the founder of the world-famous Estes industries. Estes operates in Penrose today, which is known as the “Model Rocket Capital of the World”. It is one of the leading manufacturers of model rocket kits and motors for model rocketry hobbyists all over the world.
