Due to bad weather this week, we have elected to cancel the February high-power launch. Even though the weather Sunday might be acceptable, the fields will all be very muddy due to this week's rain and rocket recovery would be extremely difficult.

Our next high power launch is tentatively scheduled for the weekend of March 17th / 18th. One date or the other will be chosen based on the weather forecast, and an announcement will be made to this mailing list.

Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

At last night's meeting we sat down with a calendar and worked out a launch schedule for this year! All of the events are now shown on the calendar on the SLRA website, so please bookmark that for your reference.

First off, here are our planning dates for high power launches this year. All of the usual disclaimers apply (field availability depends on weather and whether crops are currently planted in the fields) so these dates are somewhat tentative. You will also notice that this is a list of weekends - each high-power launch will still be a one-day event, but the day will be selected once we have a reasonable weather forecast, about a week ahead of time. This way, we hope to avoid confusion if we have a situation like we did last month, when we scheduled for Sunday and then changed it at the last minute based on the weather forecast. Finally: there are no locations attached to these dates yet. We will decide which field we're going to based on whether crops are going to be out, and we don't usually know that this far ahead of time. However, we're thinking that any spring launches will probably be in Elsberry because the winter wheat won't be out in Addieville.

2018 High power planning dates:
February 24 / 25
March 17 / 18
April 7 / 8
October 20 / 21
November 17 / 18
December 1 / 2

Next up are the Buder Park model rocket launch dates. These are pretty much set unless we have a scheduling conflict with the park. Same as last year, the model rocket launch will be on the weekend following the monthly meeting, and will alternate between Saturday and Sunday. However, since our meeting are now near the end of the month, this sometimes pushes the launch date into the next month (e.g., the "June" launch is actually scheduled for July 1).

2018 Model rocket launch dates:
Saturday, March 31 (the day before Easter)
Sunday, April 29
Saturday, May 26 (Memorial Day weekend)
Sunday, July 1
Saturday, July 28
Sunday, September 2 (Labor Day weekend)
Saturday, September 29

Finally, there will be a two-day event at the Teeniemunde field near Springfield, MO - "Heavy Metal III". This event is scheduled for May 19th and 20th. We'll have more details on that event coming soon.

If you have any questions, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com, and we hope to see you at the field!

SLRA is having our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, January 23rd, at our regular meeting location:

Fallon's Bar & Grill
9200 Olive Blvd. #116
Olivette, Missouri, 63132

The room will be available at 6:30 PM and  the business meeting will start at about 7:00PM.

If you're a member of SLRA and are registered on the website, you can view minutes of previous meetings here: Meeting Minutes Page, The meeting minutes will be the basis of our "old business" discussion.

The standard agenda for all meetings is as follows:

1. Treasury Status.

2. Recognition of Achievements

3. Recognition of Contributions

4. Members expenses.

5. Old Business - please review minutes for last month's meeting for topics

6. New Business

Online and paper membership forms with payments received by mail to be processed by treasurer and president.

Please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com if you have new business for the meeting.

Happy new year, everyone!

I've done a little work on the website, which included updating our membership forms for 2018. If you would like to join or renew your existing membership, you can find all the information at http://dmortproductions.com/stlrocketry by clicking on the "Join SLRA" menu.

SLRA Membership is $25.00 per calendar year, which not only supports the club but also entitles you to fly for free at our model rocket launches (normally $3) and with reduced or waived launch fees at our high-power launches. (High-power launch fees are set per launch and can depend on whether the club incurs additional expense to hold the launch, such as for restroom facilities; typically the fee is $10.)

We do not charge extra for family memberships - one individual membership covers everyone in the immediate family. (Similarly, launch fees for kids are free if a parent or guardian has paid.)

You'll have noticed that it's a bit cold out, so we're not planning any launches for a bit - don't feel like you have to rush. I'll send out another dues reminder before our first launch. Please email me at admin@stlouisrocketry.com if you have any questions.

Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

We are passing this along on behalf of St. Louis Space Frontier - the TARC world champion Festus High School Rocket Club will be guests at their July meeting, which is open to the public. Details below:

It is too hot outside, so you are invited inside to attend St. Louis Space Frontier's July meeting! Meet the Festus Rocket Team, winner of the June 2017 International Rocketry Challenge in Paris, and hear about their high-flying adventures. Enjoy fire-y snacks! Learn about Thermionic Emission as presented by Dabney Tolson.

Details:

Saturday, July 22
12:15pm Oak Bend Library
842 S Holmes Ave, Saint Louis, MO
(please note that we are NOT holding this meeting at WashU)

Be "social" and RSVP on Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/Saint-Louis-Space-Frontier-Meetup/events/241770978/ Or just show up!

Please forward this message to others who are interested in rockets and rocket propulsion! Hope to see you and your friends and family on Saturday!

To learn more about the teams' big win see: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/festus-high-rocket-club-wins-world-championship-in-paris/article_3d34e46f-2e9c-5eb0-a969-6ecc5e7da1c6.html

http://www.aia-aerospace.org/news/u-s-rocketry-students-impress-at-internationals-win-gold/