The flight looked good, and I thought it came down in one piece, but when the pre-teen recovery volunteers brought it back the nose cone was separate. The elastic had broken, this time in the middle. Third separation of the day!

Also, the chute had stripped a shroud and there was a small burn hole in it.

With reluctance, I’m retiring this one. The recovery problems I’ve had probably have not all been correlated, but the fact remains that it’s a heavy rocket with very little room for laundry. They supply a square of Nomex because there really isn’t space for wadding. Given the small body tube volume it’s not surprising a C motor ejection is pretty forceful, which probably caused this latest damage as well as some earlier problems. Anyway, four flights and four partial or full recovery failures: I think it’s time to shelve this one.