Describe the launch of Auk XII in October Sky. Who was there and what happened? What was a "theodolite?"

Auk XII was the first rocket the boys
launched that was loaded with the fuel they called "rocket candy." It was built to the
same design as its predecessors, and would be the first rocket to be launched with an
electrical-ignition system. When Sonny touched a wire to an old car battery the boys had
rigged up, the rocket rose high into the air and then faltered and began to fall. When
it landed on the slack, the boys ran to get it, and discovered that the rocket's nozzle
had blown out. Further examination showed that the weld was still intact; the center of
the nozzle had simply been eaten away, causing the rocket to lose its
thrust.

A theodolite was a crude instrument invented by
Quentin to measure the highest altitude of the rocket. It was made from a broomstick
with an upside-down protractore attached on one end and a wooden straightedge on the
opposing side that rotated around a nail. By jamming the stick in the slack and
squinting along the straightedge at the rising rocket, then noting the angle the ruler
made with the protractor at the rocket's highest point, Quentin could, by using
trigonometry, calculate the altitude of the rocket's flight. In this manner, Quentin
estimated that Auk XII reached a height of seven hundred and sixty
feet.

Thanks to posted notices and a series of articles
written about the Rocket Boys, a group of about fifty people were on hand for the the
launching of Auk XII. The audience included several members of the
high school football team, who were hostile and derisive, angry at having the attention
of the community focused on the Rocket Boys instead of on themselves. The rest of the
spectators, however, were excited and highly supportive. Some of them even began to
cheer for the Rocket Boys, just as they would at an athletic event (Chapter
11).