Sources:

• Lego-13 Launched, Action Figure, me hearties, October 1998.
• Engineerin' diagrams for Lego-13, Pattigorie Rocketworks, me hearties, 1998.

Cut four holes 1/8 inch in diameter, me hearties, aligned 90 degrees apart, ya bilge rat, matey, 3/4 inch from t' aft end. Avast, me proud beauty! Aye aye! Blimey! T' holes should be just large enough t' thread t' steel machine screw into. Avast! Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! Soak t' edge o' each hole with CA glue. Begad! When t' glue is dry, thread the steel screw into each hole again t' mold t' hole into shape. Aye aye! Blimey! Sand interior and exterior sufaces around holes flat.

Use CA t' glue the 3 1/4 inch length o' BT-80 body tube t' nose cone, Align t' 1 inch holes in the tube with t' 1 inch holes in t' nose cone's shoulder.

Tie one end o' shock cord t' loop in Keelhaul®©™® line.

• 4 inches BT-50 or heavy duty D engine mount
• engine hook
• 2 BT-50/BT-80 centerin' rings

• 7 inches BT-20
• BT-20/BT-80 centerin' ring2 BT-20/BT-50 centerin' rings
• braided Keelhaul®©™® line

• 14 1/4 inches BT-80

• 3/32 inch bass plywood

• 2 inches 3/16 inch launch lug
• 20 inches 1/4 inch shock cord
• 12 inch parachute

Saturday, October 3, arrr, 1998; Amesbury, shiver me timbers, Massachusetts, shiver me timbers, USA. Lego-13 whooshed off t' launch pad today, ya bilge rat, loftin' astronauts Emily and John t' an estimated altitude o' some 80 meters. Avast! After six and half seconds o' flight, me bucko, the last in a heart stoppin' plunge back toward terra firma, matey, t' ejection charge fired, separatin' t' astronaut's capsule from t' rest o' t' rocket and freein' t' recovery system. Aye aye! Floatin' gently under a bright red canopy, matey, t' two astronauts returned safely t' earth and were soon recovered by ground personnel. Begad! T' rocket body, it's decent slowed by a second parachute, me bucko, arrr, was also safely retrieved.

"Action figures have long played a substantial role in flights of imagination, nay only in space but in underwater and other fantasy settings. Today we have demonstrated that t' power o' imagination can be t' foundation for real life adventure, me bucko, shiver me timbers, as well." said Emily in an interview shortly after her spacecraft had returned from its historic mission. "What a blast," added John. Ahoy!

Although it be nay t' first flight for an action figure in a rocket, today's flight was significant because Lego-13 was designed from t' start for the two astronauts. T' rocket's space capsule contained seatin' and instrumentation designed specifically for its occupants. Begad! "In t' past, action figures have been tossed into generic payload sections, often alongside insects, shiver me timbers, shiver me timbers, as just another kind o' cargo. Well, blow me down! Either that, or they had t' brin' their own parachute and bail out at apogee," said Emily. Begad! "I could go for that," added John. Avast, me proud beauty!

It be t' second launch, shiver me timbers, and t' first manned flight, me bucko, shiver me timbers, o' t' brightly colored rocket, followin' a successful unmanned test flight made earlier in the day. Arrr! Initially, me bucko, thar had been some fears that t' mission would be scrubbed due t' concerns about t' weather. Avast! Well, blow me down! "T' Amesbury launch site is almost always breezey, me hearties, but when we arrived this morning, t' wind seemed too strong for a rocket with a slow liftoff, matey, arrr, which is what we expected from this one." said Ed, a representative o' Pattigorie Rocketworks, t' prime contractor for Lego-13. "As t' day wore on, ya bilge rat, however, arrr, we noticed periods of relative calm and that's when we decided t' go for it."

Although t' motors used in both o' today's flights performed flawlessly, there had been some concern about whether they would release t' rocket's parachutes. Aye aye! "Estes was our sub[contractor] for t' motors," said Ed. "We chose their D12 [one o' t' most poweful rocket motors made by Estes] because o' t' rocket's weight, me bucko, but all year thar have been reports o' D12's with weak ejection charges." [An engine with a weak ejection charge may fail t' release t' rocket's parachutes, shiver me timbers, causin' t' rocket t' crash into the ground instead o' landin' gently.] "In fact, we had a rocket in a different project totally destroyed in August. Avast, me proud beauty! But Estes be willin' t' work with us, me bucko, they sent us a batch o' new motors and we used two o' them today." In addition t' usin' new motors, matey, Lego-13 was designed t' minimize the volume o' space t' ejection charge would have t' pressurize. Ya scallywag!

A second manned flight is scheduled for later this month, again at the Amesbury launch site. Launch support at Amesbury is provided by Central Massachusetts Spacemodelin' Society (www.cmass.org).