Two towering pieces of Calgary’s aerospace history have found a new home at the Aerospace Innovation Hub.
At 16.5 feet long, 22 inches in diameter and with a six-foot fins pan, The Dauphin was believed to be the largest amateur rocket ever built in Canada when it launched in 2003. Fully loaded with fuel and propellant, it weighed approximately 300 pounds and generated 2,400 pounds of thrust. It now stands alongside a Saturn V rocket of equal stature, launched in 2019 for the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.
Despite their sizes, the rockets were built largely from cardboard, plywood, and aluminum. The team spent approximately $1,500 on the airframes, embracing a philosophy familiar to innovators everywhere: keep it simple, control costs and find creative ways to make it work.
The Dauphin was created by a team of Calgary rocketry enthusiasts that included flight director David Buhler and avionics lead Ian Stephens. Shane Weatherill was part of the team that later built and launched the Saturn V rocket. All three have spent decades building, launching and supporting amateur rockets through Calgary Rocketry and the Canadian Association of Rocketry.
For Weatherill, the appeal began with building something that could do more than sit on a shelf.
“When you can build a rocket and fly it, that’s a very different thing,” he said. “You’re building something that functions in the real world.”
That spirit of experimentation has kept the team engaged through increasingly ambitious projects. Their work brings together airframe design, electronics, software, tracking, telemetry, flight simulation and safety–often requiring repeated testing and problem-solving before a rocket is ready to launch.
The Dauphin was previously displayed at The Hangar Flight Museum, which arranged for it to be donated to the Aerospace Innovation Hub on the team’s behalf. Buhler and Stephens helped transport and reassemble it in its new home, where its scale continues to surprise visitors.
“People don’t really think that something that large can go into the air and come back down in one piece,” Buhler said.
Beyond building their own rockets, the team has helped the next generation develop its skills. Their involvement with Launch Canada supports university teams as they design, build and safely launch rockets in competition. Weatherill has also served in launch operations and range safety, including at the Maritime Launch Services spaceport in Nova Scotia.
They have seen students carry that experience into careers and new ventures developing propulsion systems, payloads, tracking technologies and other aerospace innovations.
Their advice for students and aspiring entrepreneurs is simple: follow the passion.
“The possibilities are endless,” Weatherill said. “The limit is what you can imagine.”
Now displayed at the Aerospace Innovation Hub, the rockets are more than impressive artifacts. They represent what can happen when curiosity becomes a lifelong pursuit, and how spaces such as the hub can help students, researchers and entrepreneurs turn their enthusiasm for aerospace into something real.