Archive for Newsletters

“Worth the Price of Admission” HARA’s April 12th Launch Draws Big Crowd & Doesn’t Disappoint

Yesterday’s HARA launch had the energy and tempo of southern thunder and student launch initiative packed into one very exciting day. The rocket gods smiled upon us, granting clear blue skies when we expected scattered showers just days earlier. Family and friends both new and familiar and a host of SLI team descended upon the sod farm for a launch quoted as “worth the price of admission”. Read more

HARA Newsletter – Feb 2014

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

HARA Newsletter – Jan 2014

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

HARA Newsletter – Dec 2013

“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 Newsletter – Sep 2013

HARA’s TRA Prefect Fred Kepner delivered a great tech talk on parachutes at the September 5th meeting. Read more

HARA Newsletter – July 2013

“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

HARA Newsletter – May 2013

“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

HARA Newsletter – April 2013

Houston, We have a Problem” ~ Apollo 13 – April 13, 1971

 

At the last HARA meeting, Walt Stafford, our resident expert composites and XP motor maker brought in some samples of his fiberglass airframes and nosecones as a primmer for the composites workshop we had of April 6th. Read more

HARA Newsletter – March 2013

Test what you fly, and fly what you test”

Thursday night’s meeting was another success.  Attendance has been up 3 fold and the new focus of the meetings on helping people grow in hobby rocketry and show off their projects seems to be resonating rather well.  I gave a 45 minute presentation on dual deployment recovery systems in our first in a series of Tech Talks that cover lots rocket building techniques.   Read more

HARA Newsletter – Feb 2013

“We Are On Ascent” ~ Vince Huegele

 

Thank you everyone for coming to the meeting last night. We had a great turn out with nearly 30 people in attendance and a lot of new faces. We kicked off the meeting with our guest speaker and a few pizzas.  Mr. Chuck Pierce who is branch chief of Spacecraft Propulsion Systems at MSFC and has a rich background with space shuttle and hypergolic propulsion systems, shared with us the propulsion research being done here in Huntsville.  Mr. Pierce brought along a space shuttle reaction control motor to show off. Read more