By Vince Huegele
The thing people did at NARCON that was the most fun was not attending the technical sessions, listening to astronauts, visiting with old rocket friends or even touring the historic launch pads. People got the biggest grin from reading the severe winter weather reports from their hometowns while sitting in the 70 degree Florida sun. Read more
I’m always looking for some new way to build a rocket to make assembly in the field easier and this is a cool and very easy way to replace nylon rivets. The first method I tried to leave rivets behind was to epoxy an ordinary hex nut on the inside of the fiberglass airframe. That would work okay if for not a few reasons. One, I always got epoxy on the threads and that gummed up the threads. Two, it was hard to align the hex nut if I didn’t have the screw fed through the hole to keep the hex nut in place. And three, my elbow isn’t calibrated very well sometimes so I tend to over torque the screws and the hex nut breaks free from the epoxy. I really liked the idea of having stainless steel screws with shear strengths up in the hundreds of pounds range in place of my old expendable nylon rivets that I never had enough of or in the right size when I was in the field. Read more
Homemade CNC Mills, Google Glass, & Octo-rockets
Wondering what these things have in common? Then you probably missed Thursday night’s HARA meeting. First off, attendance was fantastic with nearly 30 people showing up. Thank you to all of our guest. We hope that you felt at home. HARA puts a lot of effort into providing engaging and informative meeting presenters to help you develop your skill and knowledge of rocketry. So what do these topics have in common? Read more
The Huntsville Area Rocketry Association invites the public to our Inaugural Open House on Thursday, March 6th from 7:00-8:30pm at NASA’s Educators Resource Center in front of the US Space & Rocket Center.
HARA promotes science & engineering knowledge through hands-on experience, and promotes amateur rocketry to all ages. Our Open House will feature interactive exhibits and displays, and club members will share stories of their amateur rocketry experience.
Refreshments will be provided.
Last year was one of the biggest in HARA’s recent history. As HARA President, I wanted to grow the club’s membership, improve attendance at regular club meetings, & promote HARA to the public. Club meeting attendance has been very high with a lot of new faces. Read more
“And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas – and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth.”
– Col. Frank Borman, December 24, 1968
December 5th marked the last club meeting of the year. The meeting opened with a short Tech Talk. Duane Mayer gave a detailed step-by-step on how to build homemade rocket motor igniters. Read more
HARA’s TRA Prefect Fred Kepner delivered a great tech talk on parachutes at the September 5th meeting. Read more
“New and advanced aerospace technologies must be taken to flight early to “separate the real from the imagined, and to make known the overlooked and the unexpected problems”
– Hugh Dryden
On July 11th, HARA hosted Jim Jenkins, retired Boeing ground test systems engineers whose long and distinguished career has included testing the Apollo Saturn V stages at MSFC and Stennis Space Center. Mr. Jenkins shared with us a photographic history of rockets, launch vehicles, and test ranges offering a very interesting and exclusive perspective on project Apollo. Read more
“Launching is optional… recovery is mandatory.”
On May 2nd, HARA hosted Michael Wright, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center’s chief historian for a guest speaker session. Mr. Wright shared with us the history of rocketry from Greek and Roman mythology, to their ancient Chinese use in warfare, through the age of enlightenment when rockets transitioned into tools of science, and up to the 1960’s when rockets allowed mankind to make giant leaps for all mankind. Read more
