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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It's Official APCP is off the Explosive list, WOOHOO

Everyone: After the jump is a joint statement released by NAR and Tripoli. We are good to go. APCP is off the list for now. Please read. RocketRalph

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The ultimate on-board video

OK, I saw something on NASA-TV today that I just had to share.... It's the ultimate on-board video from STS-125. It's from the left solid rocket booster camera and it's awesome. Here's the LINK. It's posted on AOL Video and it's about 7:15 long from start to finish

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Note From The Scouts

From David Hutchinson, leader of the Scouts ROCC visited with on Saturday, May 16, 2009: Thank you for a great time Saturday afternoon! The boys really got a thrill out of it. They talked about rockets all evening and the next day. We really appreciate your taking the time to come out and explain what rocketry is all about to the boys. The hands on format really made a big impression on them. Thanks for bringing your launch system as ours still needs a little more work. You guys made our Year End campout a huge success! Dave Hutchinson Pack 214

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April 2009 Launch Report

Well did everybody have a good time at the April Campout Launch weekend? Conditions the Saturday was pretty great overall. Mostly sunny with high clouds, some light winds that we worked with using longer delays for more fall time for lower chute deployment, streamers for less drift and slight angle adjustments into the wind. Barley growth surprised us also at 18 inch�s or greater that tended to swallow whole rockets and chutes. By next month it will be 2 foot or more. Wind, We did have a few drift far, far away, some recovered, some not. Hind sight is so 20-20 after the launch when you know, I should have angled, longer delayed, smaller chute or streamered the rocket. But over all we had a great launch that Saturday the 18th of April.

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