I think I've run out of jokes about how bad our weather luck has been.

The flood forecast indicates that the field will be at best inches away from flooding tomorrow, and it's trending in the wrong direction (the observed reading is a quarter-foot higher than what this morning's forecast predicted). St. Louis County Parks has not yet made a decision about when to close the park, but even if it were open in the morning I've decided it is too close for comfort.

So tomorrow's launch is cancelled, and we'll try again next month (Sunday, April 28th).

Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

We're watching the Meramec River flood forecast, which predicts the river rising past 19 feet (the level at which our field floods) sometime tomorrow. There is a good chance we will need to cancel our launch. Please check the club website and your email for updated status before heading for the field. Please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com if you have any questions.

Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

Due to the poor weather forecast on Saturday and the need for some TARC teams to get qualifying flights done, we have decided to postpone the Buder Park launch one day and hold it on Sunday, March 31. Setup time will remain at 9:00am and we should be ready to fly rockets around 9:30am.

If you have any questions, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com.

Dan Crank
Secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

This is a combined announcement for our club meeting on Tuesday March 26th and our Buder Park launch scheduled for Saturday March 30th (weather permitting). Please see below.

SLRA is having our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, March 26th, at our regular meeting location:

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

The room will be available at 6:00 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.

Our first model rocket launch of 2019 is scheduled for this coming Saturday, March 30th at Buder Park. The current Weather Underground forecast predicts scattered thunderstorms Thursday night through Saturday morning, although that prediction has changed every time I've looked at it. It will likely be cool and fairly windy if it's not raining. Not an ideal day for rockets, but as long as it is not actually raining, I intend to go ahead and open the range since we have at least one TARC team needing to do qualifying flights, and I hope to have a new launch controller to test out.

As always, please check the website for last-minute updates before heading to the field, or check your email if you are subscribed to the email list.

We'll start setup at 9:00 am and should have the range open by 9:30 if not earlier.

If you have any questions, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com.

SLRA President Dave Kovar would like to inform the membership about two upcoming events - one is a possible outreach opportunity.

First, the Space Museum in Bonne Terre, MO is holding an event for the dedication and ribbon cutting of their new Grissom Center addition. Guests will include former NASA astronauts, shuttle flight director Rob Kelso, and Gus Grissom's brother Lowell and son Scott. The event includes lunch and a book signing with astronaut Jerry Ross and author George Leopold. The website now indicates that the event is sold out, but the museum has offered SLRA a display table. We would need one other volunteer to attend in addition to Dave Kovar to make that happen. Find details at the Space Museum's website at http://www.space-mo.org/ and email Dave at kovardad@gmail.com if you are interested in participating.

Second, there will be an appearance by Apollo 17 Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt and Flight Controller Gerry Griffith at the Linda Hall Library in Kansas City to open their new exhibit, "To the Moon: the Science of Apollo" on Thursday, March 28th. The event is sold out, but club president Dave Kovar is attending this one as well and has an extra free ticket if someone from the club would like to join him. Find event details at https://www.lindahall.org/event/science-of-apollo/ and again, if interested, email Dave at kovardad@gmail.com.

Dan Crank, secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

First of two announcements today:

We received a message from a former SLRA member who has left the hobby and is interested in selling some high-power gear. From his message: "some items are Dr. Rocket “L” motor casing with end caps, several Aerotech casings, Public Missles kits (2 4” AMARAAM kits for sure), numerous Estes kits, a LARGE scale AMARAAM that was going to be my level 3 cert...6’ diameter, misc tubes and bulkheads."

The seller would like to sell everything as a package, and did not specify an asking price so he's looking for an offer. If you're interested, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com and I will put you in touch.

Dan Crank, secretary, St. Louis Rocketry Association

SLRA is having our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, February 26th, at our regular meeting location:

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

The room will be available at 6:00 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.

At last night's meeting, we discussed the launch schedule for this year. With the heavy rain and now snow this winter, we do not expect either of our fields to be dry enough for a high-power launch in January or February. It is possible that we could have a scaled-back launch in Elsberry by flying off the gravel road, but this has some limitations and is kind of a last choice if we have no other options before crops go in.

We set dates for our Buder Park model rocket launches, but will replace either the March or April date with a high-power launch if the weather cooperates and field conditions allow. Of course, if we get a good high-power weekend at any time we can put a launch together.

The 2019 Buder Park dates are as follows:

• Saturday, March 30
• Sunday, April 28
• Saturday, June 1
• Sunday, June 30
• Saturday, July 27
• Sunday, August 25
• Saturday, September 28

Also, as John Buckley mentioned in an earlier post, we are planning a two-day event in cooperation with Tripoli MO-Kan at the Walnut Grove site near Springfield, MO. This is planned for May 18-19. This will be a NAR competition launch and will also have a high-power sport range with a waiver to 15,000 feet MSL (about 13,750 feet AGL).

Finally, many SLRA members are attending LDRS 38, the annual Tripoli national event, which is being held at the Kloudbusters Rocket Pasture near Argonia, KS over Labor Day weekend (the usual time and place of AirFest). We encourage all St. Louis-area high power flyers to make the trip and enjoy their 50,000 foot MSL waiver.

The calendar on the website has been updated with these dates, but as always, please watch the site or subscribe to the mailing list for changes. If you have any questions, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com.

SLRA is having our regular monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, January 22nd, at our regular meeting location:

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

If you are the winning bidder on items from our auction which is ending today, please plan to attend the meeting to pick up your kits! If you can't, please email admin@stlouisrocketry.com to make alternate arrangements.

Another note: we will be talking about the 2019 launch schedule at this meeting, so if you want input on that, please plan to attend.

The room will be available at 6:00 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.