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By Bill Lilley
Beacon Journal staff writer
POSTED: 10:40 a.m. EDT, Apr 27, 2009
Steve Eves didn't put a man on the moon this afternoon.
So what?
The 51-year-old Tallmadge Collision auto body specialist had earned the right to step outside his soft-spoken, unassuming nature.
''I think I have an idea now of how Dr. Wernher von Braun must have felt 40 years ago,'' Eves said. ''We both accomplished something in rocketry that had never been done before.''
Granted, the two world records set with his one-10th-scale Saturn V rocket for the Guinness Book of Records today are in the hobby rocket realm, not manned space flight.
But what makes his accomplishments — heaviest rocket ever successfully launched, at 1,648 pounds; tallest at 36 feet — even more impressive is that Eves has no formal training in engineering.
He simply meticulously copied a Saturn V rocket to scale, and then worked like a dog for two years in his expanded garage to make his dream come true.
At 12:55 p.m. on a 400-acre farm in Price, Md., Eves exceeded his expectations.
''It was unbelievable. It was a perfect flight in all respects,'' Eves said. ''I had butterflies in my stomach all morning. We checked and double-checked everything, and you still don't know at that point if the rocket will launch successfully.
''But when the motors lit, that was a real highlight. I knew we were in for a thrill at that point.''
The estimated crowd of 5,000 also felt a thrill.
''People a third of a mile away said they could feel the concussion of the nine motors,'' Eves said.
The countdown, which was delayed 55 minutes because the crowd created a traffic jam that made Eves late getting to the launch pad, was anticlimactic for him.
''I knew we'd have a successful launch and set the records at that point,'' Eves said.
He was dead on. The thrust created an 18-inch-deep, 4 foot-by-6 foot hole.
The rocket reached a height of 4,441 feet during a flight time that was slightly less than two minutes.
''It landed within a half-mile of where we had calculated,'' Eves said. ''All the systems performed perfectly, and it landed perfectly upright. It stood up on all four fins and never laid over. It was a perfect recovery.''
Eves said that was the first time in hobby rocket history that a rocket weighing more than 1,000 pounds was successfully recovered.
Eves said the rocket suffered minimal damage.
''It could be launched again,'' he said. ''But it's going to be retired and put on display so people can enjoy it.''
Eves said NASA has expressed interest in putting the rocket on display in its center in Huntsville, Ala.
But he isn't sure where it will end up.
''All I know for sure right now is that I'll continue to work with rockets,'' Eves said. ''I just don't know if I'll take on a project like this again. I had a group of experts helping me, or we couldn't have pulled it off. But even with help, it's an overwhelming task that consumes your life for years.
''This one was definitely worth it, but one might be more than enough.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
Steve Eves didn't put a man on the moon this afternoon.
So what?
The 51-year-old Tallmadge Collision auto body specialist had earned the right to step outside his soft-spoken, unassuming nature.
''I think I have an idea now of how Dr. Wernher von Braun must have felt 40 years ago,'' Eves said. ''We both accomplished something in rocketry that had never been done before.''
Granted, the two world records set with his one-10th-scale Saturn V rocket for the Guinness Book of Records today are in the hobby rocket realm, not manned space flight.
But what makes his accomplishments — heaviest rocket ever successfully launched, at 1,648 pounds; tallest at 36 feet — even more impressive is that Eves has no formal training in engineering.
He simply meticulously copied a Saturn V rocket to scale, and then worked like a dog for two years in his expanded garage to make his dream come true.
At 12:55 p.m. on a 400-acre farm in Price, Md., Eves exceeded his expectations.
''It was unbelievable. It was a perfect flight in all respects,'' Eves said. ''I had butterflies in my stomach all morning. We checked and double-checked everything, and you still don't know at that point if the rocket will launch successfully.
''But when the motors lit, that was a real highlight. I knew we were in for a thrill at that point.''
The estimated crowd of 5,000 also felt a thrill.
''People a third of a mile away said they could feel the concussion of the nine motors,'' Eves said.
The countdown, which was delayed 55 minutes because the crowd created a traffic jam that made Eves late getting to the launch pad, was anticlimactic for him.
''I knew we'd have a successful launch and set the records at that point,'' Eves said.
He was dead on. The thrust created an 18-inch-deep, 4 foot-by-6 foot hole.
The rocket reached a height of 4,441 feet during a flight time that was slightly less than two minutes.
''It landed within a half-mile of where we had calculated,'' Eves said. ''All the systems performed perfectly, and it landed perfectly upright. It stood up on all four fins and never laid over. It was a perfect recovery.''
Eves said that was the first time in hobby rocket history that a rocket weighing more than 1,000 pounds was successfully recovered.
Eves said the rocket suffered minimal damage.
''It could be launched again,'' he said. ''But it's going to be retired and put on display so people can enjoy it.''
Eves said NASA has expressed interest in putting the rocket on display in its center in Huntsville, Ala.
But he isn't sure where it will end up.
''All I know for sure right now is that I'll continue to work with rockets,'' Eves said. ''I just don't know if I'll take on a project like this again. I had a group of experts helping me, or we couldn't have pulled it off. But even with help, it's an overwhelming task that consumes your life for years.
''This one was definitely worth it, but one might be more than enough.''
Bill Lilley can be reached at 330-996-3811 or blilley@thebeaconjournal.com.
Comments
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Posted 09:19 PM, 04/25/2009
What a cool story. Great job all involved.
NASA should be knocking at your door with job offers !
How thrilling.
Canton, OH
Posted 09:30 PM, 04/25/2009
YAWN. . .
rootstown, oh
Posted 11:01 PM, 04/25/2009
nice job guys.i'm impressed.@slovensko-shut up loser.
Tallmadge, Oh
Posted 12:26 AM, 04/26/2009
A perfect flight it was! Here is the youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bj4lj6YSwzg&NR=1 for the ones that actually care.
Posted 06:53 AM, 04/26/2009
Congrats Steve and crew. I wish I was there to see it. Best of luck in the future.
Sovensko you must be so tired, go take a nap.
The Pale Horseman-thanks for the link.
Akron, OH
Posted 08:34 AM, 04/26/2009
Congratulations to Mr. Eves.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 10:17 AM, 04/26/2009
great job proves that when you set your mind to something
Posted 10:28 AM, 04/26/2009
Good clean wholesum fun. We need more of this in our Summit County area. Some good news in the ABJ what a concept!
Akron, OH
Posted 10:47 AM, 04/26/2009
@Pale Horseman,
Thanks for the link! That was awesome! Way to go, Steve!!!
Tallmadge, OH
Posted 10:47 AM, 04/26/2009
Thanks for the link TPH! That was pretty darn cool! Would have loved to have been there and watched it.
Tallmadge, Oh
Posted 12:22 PM, 04/26/2009
The bad thing is the hobby field is not what it used to be. This is one of the ways that you kept your children out of trouble was letting them join novice groups that would eventually get them going in to an expanding future. There used to be a High-Power Rocketry group years ago that meat at Emidio (SP) party center on Tripplet Blvd that was run by an individual with the Civil Air Patrol. They would have little Shoot-Outs up I think in Richfield but not sure.
Our Children are our future, get them involved before the wrong person does. Once again CONGRATULATIONS STEVE EVES!!! WAY TO GO!
Posted 09:54 PM, 04/26/2009
Metro parks Keith Shy would have had a cow if he tryed to fly it at the Corsairs airfield!!!!
Fairfax, VA
Posted 10:15 PM, 04/26/2009
My wife and I read about this a few weeks ago...it inspired me to get aboard the high-power rocket hobby. We've been to about four launches in the last few months, including the test flight last week of The Cow...but yesterday's flight was AWESOME. Congratulations Steve Eves and team for an incredible achievement!!!
south of Akron, NO
Posted 11:57 PM, 04/26/2009
My wife and I (I am a 1975 grad of SHS) took our two grandsons and their other grandparents to see the event in person (we live about 75 miles away from the launch site in So. Maryland) and holy toledo, it was SO AWESOME!!! The videos do not do it justice, mine included! We are STILL tingling from the sound, the feel, the excitement! If he launches it again, GO SEE IT!
Summerfield, FL
Posted 06:31 AM, 04/27/2009
@The Pale Horseman, thanks for the youtube link, it's things like this that make me proud to be from Akron...good job Steve!
Akron, OH
Posted 10:59 AM, 04/27/2009
I hear Tallmadge Mayor Grimmly wanted to inspect the rocket's cabin. Suspect he has Grump in mind for a one-way trip.
Congrats, Steve. May it inspire others, particularly kids.
Posted 02:04 PM, 04/27/2009
Nice Job ABJ, but Steve lives in Lake Township not Tallmadge. He just happens to work in Tallmadge.
Posted 10:11 PM, 04/28/2009
Wow!
Posted 07:35 PM, 05/01/2009
The story doesn't say Steve lives in Tallmadge.
It says "The 51-year-old Tallmadge Collision auto body specialist ...".
Akron, OH
Posted 10:09 PM, 05/14/2009
Fantastic!
Too bad he couldn't launch in Ohio: Birthplace of Aviation
Home to 26 Astronauts.
Hope he does it again, no matter where!
