Tuesday, December 25, 2018 at 12:25PM From the National Geographic website, a short (30 min.) film on how this famous photo came to be.
I just finished reading this: 
Highly reccomend it, it's a really great read.
Have a great ChristmaHanuKwanSolstiKah everyone!
dr
Sunday, December 23, 2018 at 7:21PM I know there are a few XKCD followers in our section, here's one from the other day I had to share...
dr
Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at 8:09PM Just got off the phone with Ralph, updating on his conversation with Kip and the state of the farm. I thought that it was worth posting an update.
This has been, as we all know, a very wet season start, and it's worse because it's been on this weekend cycle of rain every Friday and Saturday. Kip says that as soon as you walk off the gravel at the front driveway you start to walk through a sponge, squish squish squish, and then if you want to walk out into the field (like to retrieve a rocket say) don't figure on getting your footwear back with you. It'll be sucked into the mud like quicksand.
We haven't seen a season like this for many years, Ralph said that Bob Strauss was pulling his hair out over that one.
So all that said, until we can get a good run of dry weather it's not looking good for the farm supporting a bunch of cars and flyers decending on it. I wish it was better news, but if we get the predicted inch of rain on Thursday it's just going to make things worse.
Stay tuned, if we don't get much rain we MAY be able to squeek in Sunday but it's sure not looking good right now. As for the 1st, well, we live in hope!
dr
DOC R.
As we kind of expected, the rain hasn't let up. I just checked the USGS rain guage at Belk Scout Camp, right over the hill from the Midland field, and it's recorded 1.83" of rain in the last 24 hours as of 16:05 EST Friday. In the last week it's over 3". Sheesh!
Obviously, no flying on the field this weekend... heck, you'd be lucky to walk across it right now.
:-(
dr
Friday, December 14, 2018 at 2:41PM Just wanted to post this... I've spoken with several of the officers and cooler, albeit wetter, heads think that the field will be too saturated even on Sunday. We are SCRUBBING this weekend, the 15th & 16th.
Well, as of Friday morning the rain is coming down, with a predicted 2 - 2.5" for the Midland area through Saturday morning. If that holds true then Saturday the 15th is definately a washout. The concensus of expert opinion is that Sunday will be still too soggy to safely fly on the field after this week's snow, then rain, on top of all the rain we got before the snow.
I hate to say it but this weekend's looking like a bust. We really need a good few days of dry and sun to get the field in shape so it can handle us safely.
Is there interest in trying anything next weekend if the weather cooperates even though it's the weekend before Xmas? Please send me a note using the "email us" link and let me know. If there's enough interest we'll see what happens. I don't think there's anyone around us launching that weekend as well.
dr
Friday, December 7, 2018 at 9:34PM Update: Yep, as we thought tomorrow is looking pretty dodgy, so we're going to call it a no-go and launch next weekend, the 15th & 16th.
Bring those Christmas shopping lists, Ken should be with us and since he's not at Camden this weekend (they've cancelled as well by the way) he should be well stocked!
Doc R.
Well folks, sorry to post this but Saturday is really looking iffy with the prediction of rain at 90% chance by 1 PM, and then you all know what they're saying about Sunday.
We're likely going to push back to our regular 15th & 16th launch window, which long range forecasts have it looking fairly decent right now.
I'll post a confirmation go/no-go later this evening once I hear back from the rest of the officers but it's looking loke a no-go as of 4:30 PM on Friday.
dr
Thursday, November 29, 2018 at 9:45AM Right now the weather forecast for this weekend is not in our favor. Saturday looks to be rainy or drizzly all day, and Sunday the day starts with showers and then continues with 15mph winds. Lovely! What doesn't get us with rain & cloud deck gets us with everybody going off the field toward Mr. Simpson (oh, didn't I mention that the winds were from the Southwest? Sorry about that).
So current thinking is to scrub this weekend and hope for a clear day next weekend (8th or 9th, we'll pick the day that looks better) where we can at least get some flying in, then to have our usual 2-day launch on the 15th & 16th.
We hate to start the season this way but weather is what weather does. Remember that the 8th & 9th is also Camden, SC's launch window, maybe their weather outlook will be better.
(Pirate voice: Arr, 'tis a fickle hobby, maties!)
dr
Friday, November 9, 2018 at 3:16PM I rode out to the farm on the 4th to get the pads and check up on things to get ready for our next season. Because of the long warm season we've had we're running behind where we've been in the last few years. The soybeans are still covering most of the fields so getting on the field is probably not going to happen until the first weekend of December, the 1st & 2nd.
Ken has it on his schedule to be with us that weekend as well, so it'll be a good chance to refill those rangeboxes. To try and make up for the late start I'd like to see if we can do a second launch in December before Christmas and then try for our sixth (?) annual New Year's day launch.
You can check out the full schedule on the side bar and all of the launches in our area on the ROCC Google Calendar. If you look closely at the full calendar we've tried to work in concert with the surrounding clubs to not step on each others launch windows... which means that on almost any weekend you can find a launch withing a few hours drive.
I'm looking forward to seeing everyone soon!
Doc R.
Friday, October 19, 2018 at 5:12PM Hey all... I just got a call from Ken Allen from Performance Hobbies. He got a call from Aerotech that they're going to do a price increase on Monday, 10/22.
BUT... If you send him an order TODAY, 10/19 he'll do a 10% discount.
I know it's short notice but at least it's a shot... his email is: kensrockets@rocketmail.com
Hmmm... Christmas might be early this year...
dr
Thursday, September 27, 2018 at 8:52PM Come and join us at the 4th annual Charlotte Mini Maker Faire at Discovery Place on October 13th from 9:00 AM till 4:00 PM. Here's the link to the site: CMMF
We'll have a bunch of rockets to talk about and there's plenty of other things to see & do, like battling robots, 3-D printing on the cutting edge, laser cutting, fabrics and fiber arts, instrument builting and circuit bending, learn how to solder and much much more... plus grab some swell swag (give-aways).
We've done this the last 3 years and it's a really fun day, getting to speak with chidren and adults about our hobby.
dr
DOC R.
Just wanted to pass along a big THANK YOU to Roy Potter and Laura Bailey for helping at the booth today, as well as all of the wonderful folks that we had a chance to speak with at bthe Fair. Also a big thanks goes out to the staff at Discovery Place for making the whole show possible.
Head over to the gallery for a few shots of the booth before the crowds descended!
Doc R.
Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 9:13PM Roy Potter went down to Camden, SC along with several other of us on Saturday for Freedom Launch 2018! Please enjoy his description and then head on over to the Gallery to view some great photos of the event. Doc R.
