GALWAY, New York (Routers) -- With an average altitude of of 1,606 feet, U.S. Water Rockets has yet again surpassed their previous WRA² record altitude.

On this cool autumn afternoon in the small town of Galway, New York, history was once again set by the Experimental X-10 Water Rocket constructed by U.S. Water Rockets as it surpassed their previous World Altitude Record by over 120 feet.

Their previous record stood for nearly a month, due to poor weather, a three week hiatus in which an experimental deployment system left X-10 stuck in a tree, and some minor damage caused by the extraction from the tree. In spite of the unfortunate downtime, the tireless efforts of the U.S. Water Rockets crew has once again resulted in a pair of highly successful missions which averaged together have set a triumphant new record for the team of 1,606 feet (490 meters).

Team members admit that they made the best of the idle time by devising a method for constructing durable but lightweight nosecones in a streamlined process which shaved hours of laborious hand fabrication time. The remining downtime was spent carefully analyzing the data from the previous water rocket world record flights in a effort to determine the optimum launch configuration for X-10. After detailed calculations based on the previous test data, a refined configuration was determined with a new balance ratio. Amazingly, the new configuration proved to be extremely efficient and produced the new record at pressurization levels lower than those used in previous flights.

With the new data in hand, and the repaired and rejuvinated X-10 fully prepped for launch, it was only a matter of waiting for idea wind conditions coinciding with proper lighting conditions for the onboard video camera to launch a new World Record flight for Water Rockets. The wait was only a matter of days, and the team set to work early in the morning preparing the launching pad and recovery area for the launch. An early morning fog delayed the launch until after noon, but the wind direction was favorable and the lighting was excellent. The flight plan for today called for a pair of identical flights using an identical configuration for the purpose of validating the balance calculations and potentially raising the bar on the world record flight. It appears that the day can be summed up by saying "Mission Accomplished".

Future plans for X-10 are to resume launching in the new configuration and one again going back to the process of incrementally increasing launch pressure each time until the limits of the pressure vessel are reached. The team is looking forward to smashing their current record each time they fly.