Although it has rained, the weather looks good for this morning and we are leaving to set up the range at Buder. The field may be damp at first, but this should not be a problem for the grass. We expect to start flying at 9:00 am and continue until there are no rockets to fly (around noon or later). Setup should depend on the wind, but we normally set up in the northwest part of the park. We will post when the range shuts down.
The weather currently looks good although it might be a bit warm. The launch is scheduled for 9:00 am with setup starting at 8:00 am. We always need help with setup and tear down so please consider helping if you can. The detailed information for the launch is available at this link: The launch setup will be most likely at the north part of the park near the soccer fields depending on the wind. All are welcome to fly whether you're a member or not so please come out for a morning of model rocketry. Attached is an image of the park with an approximate location of the launch setup. 
1. We are planning to have summer launches - the first on Saturday 21 June 2014 at Buder Park. Additional launches are planned for the third Saturday of July, August, and September. With our recent work with the Science Center, we may have access to a much better field than Buder Park so stay tuned to the web site for additional details.
The launch on 21 June will have setup starting at 8:00 am with the launch starting at 9:00 am. We plan to fly to around 1:00 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend and fly rockets at Buder park. You do not have to be a club member or a member of the NAR or Tripoli and kids are always welcome with adult supervision. This is a perfect place to get acquainted with the club, the national organizations (NAR or Tripoli) and learn the safe way to fly rockets. The park is not large which limits the size and power of models flown with the ultimate limit being a 3.3 lb rocket. We encourage much smaller models though because of the proximity to the Meramac river and the need to avoid landing on the R/C field which we share access. Flights over 1000 feet are allowed, but unlikely to be recoved safely if any wind is present at all so please ask if you have concerns about loosing your rocket.
Everyone who flies with us must also realize that the St. Louis County Parks requires organizations that fly there to have some form of insurance and we will be covered by NAR insurance which will protect our club and members and the property at Buder park as an NAR sanctioned launch. However, anyone flying without being members of NAR or Tripoli will not be insured directly and must fly under supervision of an SLRA member who is a member of either NAR or Tripoli. We will need to make sure all launches occur under the NAR safety code and must supervise the prep of the rockets for anyone not a member of NAR or Tripoli. We are glad to do that - so feel welcome. It is to your benefit to eventually join either of the national organizations which will then cover your rocketry activity under their insurance - even at other locations. We want you to try out the hobby first and to have fun flying with your family in a safe environment - as long as all the safety rules are followed. Members of the Boy Scouts or Cub Scouts and their leaders are covered by Tripoli insurance as long as the NAR safety rules are followed. If you have any questions please ask - you can comment on this post or email the club at admin@stlouisrocketry.com.
2. We had a lessons learned session with Dave Kovar after the very successful Apollo 11 45th Anniversary event with the Science Center and Missouri STEM organization. Dave Kovar (who organized the event) handed out Gene Kranz signed "Foundations of Mission Control" certificates to the club volunteers who helped out. Dave provided the following info on the history of the "Foundation of Mission Control":
"After the Apollo 1 fire, he (Gene Kranz) and others developed a charter, "Foundations of Mission Control." It was a contract or code of conduct, which in the NASA human spaceflight world was the closest thing to the Ten Commandments. Foundations very clearly spelled out the values, expectations and responsibilities that each and every employee in Mission Control was expected to understand, believe and live as a member of the NASA team.
As is the case with many others at NASA, I have a copy of Foundations on my bulletin board at United Space Alliance, where I am almost 10 years into my leadership role with the company. Foundations serves as a constant reminder of the traits of a competent and respected leader … one ultimately responsible for the outcome of their decisions. This is the kind of leader I aspire to be."
The event was very successful and hope to have similar events in the future to support science education and STEM. Thanks Dave Kovar for organizing the event.
3. We have not yet set up a fall launch schedule for Elsberry and high power rockets. We anticipate flying at Elsberry in October and John Buckley will hold another "October Fly" contest. Look for more details on the web site in the coming months. We also plan to continue having flier surveys to gauge interest for scheduling purposes.
4. If you need to pay for t-shirts, hats or club membership - you can always send money through PayPal at the email address: admin@stlouisrocketry.com.
As always, feel free to comment on this post or email admin@stlouisrocketry.com if you have any questions.
Heino Pull
SLRA Secretary
9-21-13
Buder Park SLRA club launch Five attending, two with wife and kids, one with wife. Dave, Aaron, John, me & ? (I’ve got to learn everyone’s name. Maybe I’ll get a pack of labels.)
Sunny, cool. Winds gusty and variable. I had my launcher set up and ready to go… and the controller died. Luckily others were available.
Two rockets lost. One was Dave’s PMC X-15. (sob) A few were damaged including a helicopter whose burn thread didn’t burn. All seem repairable.
My Wizard and Gyroc were damaged in transit. (!@#$%^&*) The Gyroc still turned in a nice flight.
My good flights were a Big Bertha, Viking, Trifecta, Breakaway, Delta Wedge and the aforementioned Gyroc. D-Region Tomahawk and Warp II were scrubbed because of the variable winds. Wizard scrubbed because of transit damage.
Lots more good launches. Several others were scrubbed because of the winds. The Super Mosquito was great. John had two helicopters on piston launchers.
All had fun, exercise and an improved suntan.
The air show was excellent and we had a good view of the aerobatics. How those guys can stall, spin out and recover with no sensory feedback is totally beyond me.
(From Heino - Thanks Mike for writing this - it is great to get launch reports and I wanted to put this on the front page so everyone would see it.)
A few pictures of our small setup.
Dan Welling indicated late on Friday night that a few members will be at the park around noon with a small setup. The weather is marginal, but currently the launch is still go. With the small setup, plan to arrive closer to noon than later in the day. Our normal schedule would be 12:30 to 5:00 PM, but with a small setup, it is likely to break down earlier than normal.
Heino Pull