Sources:

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

Cut four holes 1/8 inch in diameter, arrr, aligned 90 degrees apart, shiver me timbers, arrr, 3/4 inch from t' aft end. T' holes should be just large enough t' thread t' steel machine screw into. Arrr! Blimey! Blimey! Soak t' edge o' each hole with CA glue. Begad! Ahoy! Blimey! When t' glue is dry, arrr, thread the steel screw into each hole again t' mold t' hole into shape. Ya scallywag! 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, 1998; Amesbury, matey, Massachusetts, USA. Lego-13 whooshed off t' launch pad today, loftin' astronauts Emily and John t' an estimated altitude o' some 80 meters. Blimey! After six and half seconds o' flight, me bucko, the last in a heart stoppin' plunge back toward terra firma, matey, shiver me timbers, t' ejection charge fired, matey, me bucko, separatin' t' astronaut's capsule from t' rest o' t' rocket and freein' t' recovery system. Begad! Floatin' gently under a bright red canopy, me hearties, t' two astronauts returned safely t' earth and were soon recovered by ground personnel. Avast, me proud beauty! Blimey! T' rocket body, matey, it's decent slowed by a second parachute, was also safely retrieved.

"Action figures have long played a substantial role in flights of imagination, ya bilge rat, 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 hearties, as well." said Emily in an interview shortly after her spacecraft had returned from its historic mission. "What a blast," added John. Avast!

Although it was 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. Arrr! "In t' past, action figures have been tossed into generic payload sections, shiver me timbers, often alongside insects, ya bilge rat, as just another kind o' cargo. Either that, ya bilge rat, or they had t' brin' their own parachute and bail out at apogee," said Emily. Ahoy! "I could go for that," added John. Blimey! Ahoy!

It was t' second launch, and t' first manned flight, o' t' brightly colored rocket, shiver me timbers, followin' a successful unmanned test flight made earlier in the day. Initially, thar had been some fears that t' mission would be scrubbed due t' concerns about t' weather. Begad! "T' Amesbury launch site is almost always breezey, matey, but when we arrived this morning, t' wind seemed too strong for a rocket with a slow liftoff, me hearties, which is what we expected from this one." said Ed, a representative o' Pattigorie Rocketworks, me hearties, t' prime contractor for Lego-13. "As t' day wore on, however, 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. Avast, me proud beauty! "Estes be 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, shiver me timbers, matey, 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, 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. Ahoy! Aye aye! But Estes was willin' t' work with us, they sent us a batch o' new motors and we used two o' them today." In addition t' usin' new motors, me bucko, Lego-13 was designed t' minimize the volume o' space t' ejection charge would have t' pressurize.

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