Weld North Claims Nose Cone Recovery

The Weld North Military Committee claimed the world's first successful rocket nose cone recovery yesterday, retrieving a 25-inch silver-and-red metallic object and its parachute from atop a tree between Weld and Widener.

Henry M. Spotnitz '62 (beaming proudly at left with the nose cone) claimed that he was "pleased with the results, but everything only went according to plans." The builder and owner of the rocket, as well as head of the recovery team, Spotnitz refused to reveal the instrument payload, although he admitted that the cone was made of a "metallic ceramic material."

A special division of the W.N.M.C.--the Advanced Research Projects Agency--launched the rocket from Boylston Hall at midnight May 9 "without a hitch in the countdown." A responsible source in the A.R.P.A. admitted that the missile used "the expanding gas principle and was therefore completely silent upon takeoff."

Spotnitz, a member of the Harvard Rocket Club, placed the rocket between 40 miles (perigee) and 2100 miles (apogee) from the earth and said that its period was approximately 100 minutes. On its fifteenth circumnavigation the recovery package separated and the retro rockets fired.

Although he said the group denied the charge, Spotnitz accused Weld South of secretly retrieving the cone, holding it for five days, then throwing it back into the tree from fear or confusion. The University Police have asked the Buildings and Grounds Department to investigate the matter.