On Saturday, February 20, 2017, the NSL team completed their first full-scale test launch for the 2016-17 season! After a succesful black powder separation test on the ground and despite heavy rain, the launch proceeded as planned. While they didn’t hit the target apogee of 5,280 feet (1,610 m) (reaching approximately 3,600 feet (1,100 m) instead), all stages did separate as planned. The parachutes for the main rocket body and landing module deployed and proved sufficient, while the parachute for the nose cone was tangled and did not fully deploy. Despite this, no components suffered any damage due to the soft ground of the launch field and the sturdy nature of the nose cone.
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