 |
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
10-11-2006 - 11:00
BAIKONUR, ITALY TRIUMPHS IN
ORBIT
Add to the steppe of Kazakhstan the pioneering victory
of Antonio Mazzaracchio, the forty-seven year old engineer from
Umbria who lives out his passion for the skies with his nose turned
up.
A specialist in aeronautics with 15 years of experience
behind him, Antonio was just declared world champion in space
model-making, the launch of miniature rockets specialty that is a
dynamic reproduction of jet missiles.
The Italian competed
against the fierce opposition (which came from all over the world,
including Russia, the United States, Japan and East Europe), and
beat, in an intense final, decided by a play-off, the favoured
Pollack Malmyga Leszek.
A great win for Mazzaracchio, in a
sector more than unknown to the public, but with amazing
performances: our athlete, presently the world-record holder for
highest launch (658 meters, in Poland in 2004), oversees, just like
his colleagues, every waking moment of the models destined for
orbit’s lives: they are incredibly light-weight, about 6-8 grams,
thanks to the exclusive use of the lightest, but durable, materials
such as Kevlar, carbon and fibreglass, which allows them to resist
very high pressures and be pushed into the atmosphere with a minimum
use of the propellant in the space booster. Their dimensions
are drastically reduced: only 50 centimetres long with a 4 cm
diameter. Baked, they are autonomously made by the
participants in the international races, which usually take place at
the most famous launch sites: from Cape Canaveral to Baikonur, from
Prague to Ankara.
Although “space modelling” is rarely
followed, it is very intriguing, and it is recognized as a sport by
the Coni and the Italian Aeroclub, not to mention the International
Aeronautic Federation (France). And, it is ruled by a romantic
artisan spirit, with rules such as the one that allows only two
models in the span of one hour of racing, and at every launch, the
retracing and pick-up of every missile in time for the next
“bang.”
|
|
|
|
|
