I have been making and launching rockets for over 10 years. Rockets are an important hobby for me because it gives me the opportunity to learn many things. And it is a really fun thing to do! Rockets can be built from different materials, they have many different types of electronics and their flights have to be simulated. There is enough fun learning to last a lifetime, you can hardly ever retire from rocket work.

Now I have taken my hobby to the next level:

I completed the Tripoli Rocketry Association Level 2 rocket (L2) certificate in Vaasa. This entitles me to buy larger rocket engines, which allow me to launch a rocket to an altitude of 10 kilometers. I made the certificate flight with my Katana rocket, which was its sixth flight. The Katana is made of 100-millimeter cardboard tube, the wings are plywood, the tip is plastic, it weighs 3.5 kilograms and it is 200 cm long. On this flight it was at an altitude of 750 meters and it returned to the ground with a parachute. There are 7 people in Finland who have an L2 certificate. They are all active members of the Finnish Space Research Society.

I might one day make a rocket myself that can reach 10 kilometers.

It would be more fun to make a rocket that could be launched into space, i.e. to an altitude of 100 kilometers. That would require a big team of similar rocket enthusiasts like me. A space launch would probably be a multi-year project and would require quite a lot of money.

Links:

Katana flight in 2025:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWFZWhMwpPo

Tripoli:
https://tripoli.org/

Finnish Space Research Society:
https://www.sats-saff.fi/

Pictures: Vesa Heilala & Jan Holmgärd