Romanians Reach for the Stars with a Rocket

A team of Romanian scientists will launch today from Cape Midia, [on the Western shore of the Black Sea,] the Demonstrator 2B rocket. This will test their design capability for launching into space the real thing: a first Romanian-made space rocket carrying humans on board.

This project also aims at bridging the gap between the first Romanian space scientists, which were among the pioneers in the field, and the current generation, lagging behind in space exploration.
Demonstrator 2B is a non-manned four-meter high rocket, weighing 300 kilos. It is opening the road for Horizon, a first Romanian-designed rocket for a manned mission into the cosmic space.

The Romanian Association for Cosmonautics and Aeronautics (RACA), an NGO promoting projects for civil aviation and aerospace exploration, authored both rockets. Horizon is to be 14-meter in length and 7,000 kilos in weight.
The test flight of Demonstrator will also be a first for the mono propeller engine, built from composite materials and fueled with 70% oxygenated water.

The RACA project also has high protection for above: Saint Dumitru himself. The Monastery at Frasinei, Valcea County, gave the association Saint Dumitru’s icon as a present. At the same time, the name of the young engineer at the heart of the project is also Dumitru.
Dumitru Popescu, 27, studied Theology in Sibiu city, before following a career in engineering.

"Since he was a little boy, he filled his room with model planes and rockets and issues of the magazine teaching how to build plane models," said Popescu’s mother.
"These rockets are a dream come true for him and his team-mates, who all worked hard for years on this project," she said.

Dragos Comanescu, another aviation engineer part of the team, said that "we want to prove that such things [launching rockets into space] are possible here, on the sand of this beach, and in spite of the poverty in this country."