Forks: Rocket launch postponed to next week

Two aerospace engineers with Forks-based Space Transport Corp. have delayed plans to launch their 23-foot Rubicon rocket from private property at Queets until early next week.

Eric Meier, Space Transport vice president, said he and company president Phillip Storm still had the spaceship at their Forks Industrial Park shop on Thursday. Last weekend, they said they might launch on Saturday.

Meier said the ship is now planned to carry three dummies to simulate manned flight as part of 600 pounds of ballast onboard the rocket, which is 38 inches in diameter.

The spacecraft will launch from a bluff about 50 feet inland from the shoreline and is expected to splash down at about two to three miles offshore, Meier said.