Happy 100th Anniversary of Flight!

[Scott Alexander]

Does anyone else remember...the micronational space race? Back in 2001, the PRNSE decided to start a space program and got Kuralyov, who was declared head of the Strategic Soviet Rocket Corps, to try to get his hands on some sort of model rocket. The Lyricans stole the idea and Mark Buhr founded the Lyrican Space Department, or LSD. His first rocket, Mars I, reached a height of 10 feet, and his second, Mars II, reached 150. We Hyperboreans didn't want to be outdone by a couple of dirty reds and...and...Lyricans...so we started working on something. Because I was in a populated area and wasn't allowed to launch model rockets, I started working with hot-air balloons and successfully launched a balloon powered craft, the Skidbladnir I, to about twenty feet. My goal was to create a craft large enough to lift my pet rat, Mephistopheles, but before I could try that (much to my pet rat's relief) Hyperborea joined with Shireroth (and Machiavellia) in the Commonwealth of Benacia, and Erik volunteered to take over the Benacian space program. He created a craft using some sort of box kite array called the Miscreant I that reached 200 feet. Lyrica then responded by launched their Jupiter I to 260 feet, and the Soviets accused them of lying and making up their height numbers, and the Lyricans got mad, and the whole thing degenerated with lots of bad feelings. The last nation to participate in the space race, about a week after the launch of the Jupiter I, was Norad, who was for whatever reason trying to construct an rl bomb and which accidentally had it shoot 20 feet in the air and then claimed it as an entry to the space race. After that we all decided both to quit the space race stuff and to stay the heck away from Norad, and thus ended one of the weirder chapters in micronational history.Pictures of the Lyrican rockets: http://www.geocities.com/giantsq...ockets.gifRather rough sketch of the Skidbladnir:http://www.geocities.com/giantsq...p/skid.gifI believe UEC has a sketch of the Miscreant somewhere, but I can't find it; Erik?

[Kaiser Mors III]

I will look... I still have the Miscreant I... of Project Loki...I coullllld.. get that project going agian.. and with more Micronationalist near me... I could PROLY do better... Mortis BrookshireKaiser of Shireroth

[Philip Locke]

Dear gods, end the madness! Burn the rockets; trash the plans; lay waste to the launching sites! Locke.

[Zirandorthel]

Now Locke, I thought better of you than to rail against a scientific experiment like this. Why not ask the question: are micronationalists capable of launching rockets? Sun Bless, Earth KeepZirandorthel I of TreesiaThe Golden DarknessNiirus TinenetuwarLet the fates burn!

[Philip Locke]

Freenesia's first and only rocket launch left me a reactionary when it comes to micronational space programs. That was a very dark day. Locke.

[Zirandorthel]

What happened? Sun Bless, Earth KeepZirandorthel I of TreesiaThe Golden DarknessNiirus TinenetuwarLet the fates burn!

[david northworthy beckfor]

mmmmmm..........*becomes inspirered* war trophy liberated from Babkha by the Federated NORworthic Liberation Devision (FNORD)

[Philip Locke]

The rocket went up about eighty feet and then began to fall. It became lodged high in a tree and the upper half was crushed. There were no survivors. Locke.

[Zirandorthel]

A greater tragedy than any NASA catastrophe. Who were the intrepid 'nauts who were chosen to kiss God's cheek, as it were, before their eventual demise in the armpit hair of the Earth? Sun Bless, Earth KeepZirandorthel I of TreesiaThe Golden DarknessNiirus TinenetuwarLet the fates burn!

[Philip Locke]

That secret faded right along with the FT (Freenesia is dead, long live Freenesia!). Locke.

[Zirandorthel]

Well, their sacrifice will a tribute to the pointlessness of micronational scientific endeavour, and therefore a further incentive to prove that micronational science has a meaning!! Sun Bless, Earth KeepZirandorthel I of TreesiaThe Golden DarknessNiirus TinenetuwarLet the fates burn!

[Philip Locke]

I weep at the sight of such powerful doublespeak. Locke.

[david northworthy beckfor]

well, inspired by this thread, I have decided to start a pointless micronational scientific endeavour!pub73.ezboard.com/fmiddar...ID=8.topic "Disclaimer: Whatever is in the above post is probably a result of my blind following of Kieran Bennett, because I have even less of a brain than Kieran. Don't even get me started on my lack of independent thought."

[Philip Locke]

No. Locke.

[david northworthy beckfor]

no what? "Disclaimer: Whatever is in the above post is probably a result of my blind following of Kieran Bennett, because I have even less of a brain than Kieran. Don't even get me started on my lack of independent thought."