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Bun Bang Fai rocket festival in Thailand

In Thailand, there is a traditional massive rocket festival called Bun Bang Fai. Usually, it happens between May and July and is influenced by Buddhist celebrations related to fertility rituals to celebrate and  "encourage" the coming of the rains during the wet season.

Along with music, dance and beautiful decorations, there are great "homemade" blackpowder rocket ( this is the Thai word for rocket: จรวด ) competitions. The rockets are really big, mainly made of bamboo and some of them can contain up to 1 ton of powder inside and have a length of about 7 meters!

You can see some of these rockets in the YouTube video below:

You can see in some videos, those rockets going "CATO" (Catastrophic Failure) during launch.

Many of those rockets also have a parachute to help them fall slowly into ground.

 

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