Astrocam

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The Astrocam is a model rocket with a built-in camera for taking aerial photographs.

The Astrocam comes from the American manufacturer Estes and it can be flown by B6-4-, C6-5- and C6-7-propellants. The Astrocam was available as kit or as ready-to-fly model. The camera used 110 film and was mounted in the nose cone of the rocket with the aperture perpendicular to the to main axis of the rocket. A mirror held in a hood was used like a periscope to enable the camera to look forward. The camera needed to be manually advanced and "cocked" by pulling a string attached to spring-loaded shutter taut. When the nose cone was placed on the rocket body, the string was placed between the nose cone and the body so that when the ejection charge of the engine expelled the nose cone, the string would be released causing one frame of film to be exposed. Since the rocket was not steerable, the photographer could not determine what the camera will photograph.

A modern version of the Astrocam is the Oracle.