> Whaddya think, Russell?  Plausible, or falsified?
> Being, as you are, our resident water rocket expert...

Seeing I'm asked.
This has been discussed at length on a "hard-core" rocketry list. Some 
consider it genuine and go to some lengths to explain why. I consider 
that it's very probably a pastiche of several shots of several 
launches. I strongly suspect that the real man was launched a 
relatively short distance and that they have real footage of that. BUT 
that  they also launched much longer unmanned (and so much lighter) 
shots. Video from several launches was then patched together. The 
energy in a pack of bottles is IMHO  far too low to achieve the range 
of the long shot while manned. Could do detailed calculations in 
support of this, but practical experience suggests I'm right.


        RM. 

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