Weekend Update...

From John Bergsmith Tuesday morning...

"I drove by the field yesterday to determine if flying would be possible this coming weekend. Didnt take long to determine that it would not be. The corn has grown to a point were finding a rocket would be almost impossible. We might have a possibility of a low power launch in the future was the lower field is cleared out."

So, with that in hand, this weekend's launch is scrubbed. We do have several Cub Scouts things coming up, and I had a lovely chat with Kelly Jenkins yesterday about his first O'Burg weekend and having a really great time. That's always an option for most of you.

If anyone can find us a field PLEASE contact one of the officers and see what we might be able to arrange, even if it's not an HP field. At least that would keep us meeting on a regular basis.

dr (for jb)

The Transit of Venus

I've mentioned before a website that both Jean and I love, that is Phil Plait's Bad Astronomy blog at Discover Masgazine. Phil used to work on the Hubble and is one of the most requested astronmoers out there, having wirtten several books, including "Death from the Skies", hosted his own series on the Discovery channel and many, many articles on the web.

His site has a bunch of web links for Tuesday's Transit of Venus across the sun. It's located HERE.

Unless you're going to be around for the next one in like, 117 years, now's your shot!

Enjoy....

dr

May 6th launch report from Roy

Roy's report on our flight activity from the May 6th ROCC Midland, NC outing is below. Sorry for the delayed posting, I wanted to get beyond the 20th launch and then forgot to come back and post it. My apologies all... dr

Click to read more ...

Space-X fly-by

Prior to the docking the Dragon spacecraft is making a fly-by of the ISS. You can watch the feed here:

http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/dragon-iss-flyby/

A new day is dawning in low earth orbit!

dr

Sapce-X static fire to be webcast live

Thanks to my wife Jean finding this one, from Boing Boing. Space-X will webcast their live firing on Monday, 4/30/12 starting at 2:30 eastern. More info is HERE

dr

And the results are in...

NAR adviser Sandy Houston has crunched all the flight data on the April "dry run" contests. To read his detailed analysis, please, click the Read More link below... dr

Click to read more ...

April post launch report from Roy

Gather round all and you shall hear a tale of struggle, heartbreak, more struggle and eventual triumph. Here then is the April launch report from our faithful recorder of statistics and decipher-er of penmanship, Roy Potter... Just click that little "Read More" link... dr

Click to read more ...

Sunday the 22nd launch is canceled

Due to the weather forecasts for Sunday the flight operations for the 22nd of April have been scrubbed (which will, of course, means it will be a beautiful day!).

Our next scheduled launch will be the pick-up launch on the weekend of the 5th & 6th of May.

April 21 & 22, Weather Update #2

We are going to hold on to this weekend with a final decision at 1:00 PM today. We are hoping that the forecasts are correct that tomorrow is only a 30 - 40% chance of rain and that, if it comes, it will be late in the day.

We are canceling the camping and the night launch. We will pack the equipment tomorrow night figuring that if we do get rain it will be in the nightime hours. Hopefully if the rain is not too much we can salvage part, if not all, of Sunday.

The weather models have 3 different outcomes planned for the weekend and depending on who's forecast you take it could be completely different.

Check in this afternoon and tomorrow morning before heading to the field.

dr

The weather is of course playing with us like a cat with a bug and there are talks gong on as to what to do. Currently the best guess is to roll to the next weekend of the 28th & 29th. That has NOT been confirmed yet. We'll post a further update late today to see which way the weather is likely to go, but current forecast overnight Saturday looks like the best we could hope for would be a Saurday-only launch and you certainly wouldn't want to camp out that night.

dr Thursday am.

OK, Let me 'esplain.... no, there is too much, I just sum up...

First, there's the launch, including NAR contests for B altitude, C payload, spot landing and set duration flights. There's information on all this in the "Contest Info" section on the right hand side bar. Then there's the night launch, rules for which are posted in the same "Contest Info" section to the right. Then there's a camp-out, with possible stargazing opportunities if the cloud cover is OK. Then there's ANOTHER day of launching, with Michael Hollowell's helicopter available for rides.

I'll tell you, if all of this comes off they'll be talkin' about this launch till, well, a long time anyway.

dr

New TRA L2 test available (from Ralph, TRA Prefect)

Official Release from Tripoli April 6th 2012 regarding new Level 2 Certification Test:

 The latest Level 2 Study Guide is now available on the Tripoli website, on the Certification menu.

 All members will also receive a printed copy via mail in the near future.

The specific timeframe for mailing of the printed copies is not yet known.

 Ralph has received the new test and other Prefects will receive them shortly, if they have not already.

 Individuals taking the Level 2 test between now and May 31, 2012 may select to take either the old or the new test - this decision is up to the member taking the test, not the member administering the test. Put another way, you get to take the test you studied for.

 As of June 1, 2012, members will no longer be allowed to take the old tests.

 In addition, if you take the old test prior to June 1, 2012, you still have a year in which to make your Level 2 flight - flying after May 31, 2012 doesn't require you to retake a test you've already passed (unless you took it more than a year prior to the flight!).