Freedom Launch 2009

OK Folks... Freedom Launch is our next regularly scheduled event, over Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5th, 6th & 7th. Saturday & Sunday are standard sport rules, Monday is operating under Tripoli EX rules. I've been trying to find the updated EX rules on the Tripoli web site and haven't found them yet, so if someone knows them and can e-mail me i'll add them here. I know that there is a 450lb-plus V-2 that's about 12 feet tall to be launched around Noon on Monday, so if you needed a reason to just hang & watch for at least the morning... there you go! Roy sent out a great e-mail that i'll post on the "read more" link. So, in short, it's a really great time, I believe the waiver is around 12,000 ft., and they can easily handle up to an "M" motor. Ken will be there as a vendor, and he'll be loaded for bear, and I believe Chris Stockhart will also be there as a vendor. Some of you might might remember Chris from NSL last year. Here's a LINK to the SC ICBM site with more info. If you want to volunteer for range duties, 2 hour shift on either RSO or LCO, please drop a line to: William Daugherty at his address, wdaugherty2-at-sc.rr.com and let him know. (note... replace the "-at-" with the usual sign, didn't want the bots to scrape his name on our site) <UPDATE>If you still needed a reason to drive down to Orangeburg for the Freedom Launch, Burl Finkelstein sent me these two photos of what he will be launching Monday: Click on either for a (much) bigger version. </UPDATE> And now, please read Roy's e-mail below:

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A cautionary tale...

Just a brief note... the ATF released a report that was related to the fireworks explosion out on the outer banks earlier this year. The cause seems to have been the insertion of an igniter into a shell and a static discharge caused the igniter to fire, exploding the shell and all it's friends in the truck, killing 3 and seriously injuring an fourth. I bring this up because a bunch of us are going to be at a large launch in the next little bit and there is a really good reason why igniters should be shorted together until insertion at the pad with the rocket pointing safely up. Let's all be safe out there folks...

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4H at the Schiele

On Aug. 7th, 2009 Bob, Ralph and Doc helped a bunch of kids launch some tiny paper rockets. Pictures here

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Scratch Building Vintage Rockets via Make

This turned up on the Makezine blog.Check it out.

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August shuffled

Well, due to the crop situation and no alternate field in sight, we're going to shuffle our August launch date to September at Orangeburg. Freedom Launch 2009 will be held Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Sep 5, 6, & 7 at the Super Sod farm in Orangeburg, SC. It's about 2&1/2 to 3 hours away (shorter if you burn a few engines along the way) and is where we had the 2008 NAR NSL. It's a great field and well worth the drive. Saturday and Sunday will be standard sport days, under Tripoli rules, and Monday will be a research day. An incentive to stick around for Monday, at least for the early part, is between 11:00 and Noon on Monday is V-2 time, ending with Burl's 400-plus pound V-2 behemoth flying on (2) M2400's and an experimental "O" motor, predicted 4000' altitude. The story from the ICBM's website is after the "Read More" link.

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LRO spots the landers

Where were you forty years ago? The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has taken photos of the landing sites of most of the Apollo lunar missions. Let's all hope they don't lose these tapes!

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July Launch info

Well, unfortunately because of the lack of rain a few weeks ago, the field on the north side that's full of corn isn't ready yet, even though it's like 8 feet high, and the other side is full of barley (or soybeans, or something green like that)... so the bottom line is that we can't fly on Kip's place this month. So, it's looking like it's either Orangeburg in a few weeks or the scouts launch to fly some small to mid sized stuff as a demo. Check out the Rocketry Planet ROCC discussion page to learn more. LINK

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June Pictures

John Bergsmith sent some pictures from the June 2009 launch. Click on Photos above to enjoy!

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Some upcoming events to mark on your calendar

While we're in between launch announcements and launch reports, just a few things that are in the near future... Our friends down in Orangeburg are having their regular Sport launch, scheduled for Aug. 8-9, sponsored by the NAR ROSCO section. Go to www.tripolisc.org for more info. Right after that we've been asked to participate with the Belk Scout camp again, with a demonstration launch and to help them launch their rockets. That'll be on August 15th. Then, back down in O'burg, it's the 3-day Freedom Weekend Launch. Schedule, as usual, is Sep. 5-6 Sport, Sep. 7 TRA Research. I saw a post from Burl I believe that there's a huge V2 to be launched that w'end. Then another scout troop requested us for Oct 3rd at Belk Scout Camp. Anyone who is available for this date should chime in on Rocketry Planet or drop Brad an email. That's it for now, be sure to keep an eye on this site and on Rocketry Planet for the details. DR

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June Launch Update to the UPDATE

SUNDAY HAS BEEN CANCELED Due to the projected wind shift to winds out of the north at 11 mph and the hight of the corn (Over head high!) we are CANCELING Sunday's launch activities. We're sorry about this but those that braved the 95+ degree heat today were flying on a favor form the rocket gods today. (everyone say "thank you oh great rocket gods") But with the projections of winds that are due to be straight into 6'high and higer corn that you can't see 3' in let alone walk through without major damage we are giving it a pass for the 2nd day. THANK YOU to all that came out, and we saw some old friends as well which was a very nice surprise indeed. Also, David Deason will be sending some silent auction stuff to me hopefully in the near future... he's getting out of the hobby for a while and has some great deals he's trying to make... Stay Tuned! Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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