Tis the season to be scary, so what does your imagination bring up that will fly? Take a simple model, paint it with seasonal colors, add a few spooky stickers and you’re set. Pass through the Halloween decorations aisle at any store and you will see (with your rocketeer’s eyes) possible structural elements to add to an airframe. It’s a trick to get the weight distribution and surface area balanced for stable flight, but what a treat when it comes together.

Come to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center Saturn V Hall in the Davidson Center for Space Exploration on August 4th from 4:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m for authentic German cuisine. http://rocketcenter.com/Biergarten

Admission is free, and food and beverages are available for purchase.

The U.S. Space & Rocket Center is featuring HARA as a nonprofit organization. A portion of food sales that evening will be donated HARA, so everyone come with a friend or your family and spend some money for dinner to build up the treasury. Bratwurst, fried potatoes, pretzels and mustard, and black forest cake are just a few of the offerings, so come on and eat. We’ll get a chance to introduce visitors to HARA.

The monthly HARA meeting will also be held this evening. The August launch will be Saturday the 6th at Manchester.

Ben Nye the science guy and Schmitty the weather dog will not be attending the monthly HARA meeting Thursday, July 7 at 7:30 pm. But you can, so come hear about what the club is doing and has planned for the rest of the year. We’ll show and tell our rockets and what’s on our workbenches. Get ready for our next launch on Saturday the 9th. Find out what’s going on and new in the rocketry world. As for Ben and Schmitty, this photo shows them at the April 2016 NSTA convention with a rocket from the NAR booth in the background. Why they would attract more attention than a ten foot tall rocket is unknown.

The monthly HARA meeting is this Thursday, June 2, 7:30 pm at the Space and Rocket Center. Come hear the stories about the fantastic National Sport Launch https://www.facebook.com/events/1454507068190196/permalink/1543705859270316/   we just hosted or come to tell your own. We’ll have a slide show of images and videos.  NSL T-shirts and kits are still available, now discounted.  

We’ll also discuss TARC and Geezer TARC, other launches coming this summer and the HARA Biergarten Night at the Davidson Center on August 4^th.

As always, what’s on your workbench? Bring something to show and tell.

NASA Administrator, Charles Bolden, delivered a “State of NASA” address at Langley Research Center today. In that address, Administrator Bolden reflects of NASA’s accomplishments and shares our nation’s vision for the future. President Obama proposed a FY2017 budget would fund NASA at 19.3 billion dollar, an investment that will ensure the SLS, ISS, science, technology, and commercial programs stay the course on our human journey towards Mars. Check out the details of the NASA budget proposal.

The latest, and final revision of the NSL 2016 art infuses the heritage of several space and defense entities. Can you guess a few?

Lets list them out.

1. The NSL font is an infusion of the NASA worm and JPL fonts into a pseudo-palindrome, a word that reads the same forwards and backwards. Did you know that HARA’s logo is based on the NASA worm? NASA retired the worm insignia in 1992.
2. The rocket and flames is an homage to the NAR logo, though the colors are different.
3. The rocket is a Corporal missile, a rocket developed by the Army Ordinance Missile Laboratories at Redstone Arsenal. The Corporal eventually gave way to the Sergeant project, a rocket that would work in concert with the Redstone rocket to launch America’s first artificial satellite, Explorer 1.
4. The combination of the rocket and blue planet are representative of the US Space and Rocket Center logo and pays homage to Alabama’s number one tourist attraction, and HARA’s home base.
5. The three stars represent the clubs hosting NSL 2016. They are from left to right HARA, MC2, and SOAR.

Your 2016 HARA Officers are as follow:

President: Chuck Pierce

Vice President:  Daniel Cavender

Treasurer: Duane Mayer

NAR Advisor: Vince Huegele

Secretary (NAR and TRA): Elliot Laramie

TRA Prefect: Art Woodling

A message from the President:

As HARA has a lot things cooking this year, especially with NSL coming up in May, I agreed to serve another single-year term as president.   I greatly appreciate the others stepping up to (or continuing in) leadership positions.  This is a great group of core members of HARA that have a real zeal for rocketry and for our club.  I request that all HARA members please give these officers your support and to be willing help out in local outreach, equipment maintenance, and range support.

I think that you all know me pretty well. I’m a laid back, easy leader.  I believe firmly that hobbies are to be fun, and it is my goal to keep this hobby fun for everyone.  With the tragic model rocket accident that occurred late last year, there will probably be a bit more rigor in the RSO inspections, even for very small rockets.  Please bear with the RSO and know that he/she is helping to maintain the high standards of safety that model rocketry has shown since the 1950s.

NSL will be here before we know it and we’re going to need a lot of help from our members to pull this off. Daniel Cavender is our NSL Director.  He’ll soon be asking for help in filling jobs for NSL. Please be willing to help.  Don’t be afraid to take on a job, even you don’t have much experience in that role. You learn by doing and we’ll gladly give you all of the training/support that you need.

If there is anything that I can do to help your growth, or fun, in model rocketry, please don’t hesitate to ask.

Best regards,

Chuck