HARA was instrumental in the formation of the Student Launch Initiative 25 years ago. The MSFC education office wanted to start a student rocket launch, but those teachers and administrators didn’t have the technical knowledge to build and fly rockets. HARA did. A partnership began where MSFC would organize a program to recruit students but dependent on HARA to train those students and launch their rockets. This included HARA reviewing the proposals and progress reports, mentoring, inspecting and testing hardware, managing HP motors, approving the rockets for flight, and of course launching them. Despite MSFC being NASA, those space rocket scientists didn’t know the sport rocketry the students would use. It was fun, exciting and ground breaking for HARA to participate with NASA to fly HPR for education. As the program eventually grew with many more schools, NAR came in on the national level to provide additional appropriate support, but HARA was always involved as the local club. This year, our members were still on the field assisting the launch and helping the students. What started with three rockets and a few dozen kids has gone on to reach thousands of students with hundreds of flights. You aimed high, HARA.

The MSFC newsletter reports the first SLI launch.

Randolph HS’s rocket flies on a K250 to over a mile in 2001.

One of this year’s teams with their rocket.

This year is the 23rd and biggest year in the history of the American Rocketry Challenge (ARC/TARC). According to the director at the close of registration there were 1,006 enrolled teams, the largest number in the history of the program, well above the previous high of last year’s 922. 

This is the list of the currently registered Alabama teams.

Thompson High School, Alabaster

Cullman High School, Cullman

Central, Florence

Rogers High School, Florence

Hackleburg High School, Hackleburg

Haleyville City Schools, Haleyville 2 teams

Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering, Huntsville 4 teams

St. John Paul II, Huntsville 4 teams

Columbia High School, Huntsville

Sparkman High School, Huntsville

James Clemens High School, Madison

Bob Jones High School, Madison

Alabama School of Mathematics and Science, Mobile

Lawrence County High School, Moulton

Muscle Shoals High School, Muscle Shoals 3 teams

Phil Campbell High School, Phil Campbell

Tharptown High School, Russellville 2 teams

Russellville High School, Russellville 3 teams

Tuscumbia City School, Tuscumbia

Winfield City High School, Winfield

Tharptown High School is the reigning ARC National Champion and is back to defend its title. The state team number is down two from last year but still has 32 total teams from 20 schools, 6 with multiple teams. The Huntsville area team number grew by one.

What the NAR is doing with ARC is really making a difference to the future of the US aerospace industry, to the rocketry hobby, and to the future of the NAR. Support these students in every way you can.

The old Courtland airfield came alive again Saturday, Aug 31 when the Propel Science Foundation (PSF) hosted a HPR certification day for its students and mentors. HARA attended with range equipment and expertise to get 40 rockets launched. The flights were mostly H motors on L1 attempts and kept the inspection team busy checking motor retention, parachute packing and coupler tightness. Many of the cert flights were made by members of the 2024 ARC National Champion Tharptown team going to the next level of rocketry. Andrew Heath of PSF organized the event who was the mentor for the Tharptown ARC team and a member of the 2015 TARC Champion team.

Polar Bear Launch

A few HARA members braved the cold to start the new year flying rockets on January 1. Greg, Blake, Patrick, Vince and all the Aguilars convened at the Pegasus field for some low power fun. Even as a casual launch there were several interesting flights either on ascent or recovery.

HARA’s Holiday Party

Thanks to Doug and family for hosting a festive get together. The food was great with a house full of rocketeer celebrants. Bill Cooke was Santa Claus bearing wonderful gifts.

Inclement Date

The monthly HARA launch for December was rained out. The next scheduled launch at Woodville is January 13.

ARC Registration Ends with Participation Up

At the close of registration 12/1 there were over 900 teams signed up nationally for the American Rocketry Challenge, the most in the program’s 22 year history. Alabama had 34 teams listed which was less than the 38 last year, but the Huntsville area number had grown to eleven from the 2023 eight teams.

Game on for this year-

Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (2 teams)

Civil Air Patrol – Redstone Squadron (SER-AL-119)

Columbia High School (2 teams)

Girl Scouts of North-Central Alabama

St. John Paul II (4 teams)

Bob Jones High School

Note St. John Paul II came in third nationally last year.

Their official local qualification flights must be done by April 8 (solar eclipse day) to get flight scores that will earn one of the 100 spots at the National Finals on May 18 and a chance at the program’s $100,000 in prize money.

The winners of the 2023 NAR Section Website Excellence Awards were announced in July and HARA’s website came in Third Place. This was up from last year in finishing 4th. The judging was conducted by volunteer NAR members and this website ranked third out of over 120 websites that were judged. There are currently 240 NAR sections. See details at https://www.nar.org/find-a-local-club/section-guidebook/communications/website-excellence-award/

HARA’s website won first place in 2014.

Congratulations to all that contribute!

The winners of the 2022 NAR Section Website Excellence Awards were announced during the NARAM banquet in July and HARA’s website came in 4th Place.  The judging was conducted by volunteer NAR members and of the scores received, this website ranked in 4th Place out of over 120 websites that were judged. There are 220 NAR sections. See details at https://www.nar.org/find-a-local-club/section-guidebook/communications/website-excellence-award/  

HARA’s website won first place in 2014.

Congratulations to webmaster Bill Cooke!

Here’s a few notes and photos. Alabama was respectably represented at TARC with Tharptown coming in tenth and Muscle Shoals at twentieth. The Tharptown team is shown in the pink shirts, MS in red. HARA’s school outreach continues in the summer with a presentation and launch at Dutton Elementary.

Big rockets flew for three days at the NAR National Sport Launch in South Carolina.

The HARA trailer has been cleaned out and all the range equipment inspected and restored for the first launch of the season on October 9. Officers and members spent a day checking clips, derusting blast plates and sorting cabling. The big test will be of the new club built wireless firing system for the distant high power pads.

Fifty years to the minute that Apollo 11 lifted off the US Space and Rocket Center set a Guinness record for mass launching the most model rockets. Of the 5000 Pathfinder models loaded on 1/2A62 engines, 78 failed to launch and 44 failed to reach the required 100 foot altitude, but still beat the Teylingen College in the Netherlands record of 4,231 model rockets launched in summer 2018.

The event was under the direction of the USSARC assisted by local aerospace sponsors and employee volunteers. Aside from some local members helping on their own to load the racks and a few who built kits, there was no connection to NAR. HARA had approached USSARC last year but they already wanted to do this Guinness record attempt rather than a scale Saturn V model launch or a Land the Eagle type event.

The weather Tuesday morning was great but getting hot as the Sun rose on fifty pallets each of a hundred rockets. Each nozzle sat on an e-match pushed through a hole in a wooden slat and as long as it stayed aligned it was good to go. The loading was completed on time with no technical glitches as the large digital countdown clock rolled along. A thousand space campers, a thousand more spectators and 175 volunteers chanted the seconds and watched as the wall of smoke rose in the flight field. A large cloud instantly formed in the sky as 4922 ejection charges fired to deploy mylar streamers. Then it rained rockets. Fortunately all pieces landed in the prescribed area well away from any spectators. What earlier had been an immaculately orderly range was now littered like a Mardi Gras parade route with landed rockets and, oh yes, all that wadding.

Wearing his NAR cap Rus Hardy of Birmingham corrects an alignment.

HARA Prefect Art Wooding and VP Allen Owen rack them up.

“as my first act with this new authority, I will create a grand rocket clone army of the Republic.”

The launch had the collective impulse of an ‘L’ motor.

Meanwhile later that day Hope Rising’s TARC team flew models at Pegasus East to commemorate Apollo 11. For another report on launches that day see Bill’s blog at http://billsrockets.blogspot.com/2019/07/the-celebration-begins.htmlreoprt