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The September CORSA launch forecast was pretty good. But as soon as we got the launch site set up, the skies opened with rain. We took shelter in our tent, talked rockets, and watched the skies. After about an hour, our hopes were fading. But the rain did ease, and we thought we might at least get a few launches off before we succumbed. We quickly prepped and flew a few rockets during what looked like it would be a brief lull. But the rain didn’t start again. We didn’t have a huge turnout, but we had a great day.

Our next launch was a special launch. Cub Scout Pack 701 joined us on a day whose forecast was pretty marginal. We hoped for the best, and set up our launch site. We got rained on a few times – but we protected out gear and rocket fleets. The Scouts and their families had a great spirit, undamped by the rain, and patiently waited out a few interruptions. It paid off big time; we launched 65 times!

Thank you Pack 701 – we had a great day working with you!

This comic summarizes CORSA’s mission:
https://www.gocomics.com/redandrover/2018/02/04
The 1960s Space Race to the moon inspired me, and the other CORSA members old enough to have seen those amazing missions, to pursue science and engineering, at least as hobbies. Every rocket launch that we attend brings back at least a touch of that thrill that we got watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon. How can that be 50 years ago?!

It was hot! The breeze made the heat tolerable, but made the rocketry a little more challenging. We had pretty good luck though, and lost only one rocket to the wind.

Congratulations to Andrew on winning the Land The Eagle contest! And thanks to all the visitors who came to watch. I’ll try to get photos posted soon.

We had a very successful launch in June. The weather was good, surprisingly, but a little windy. And we had a lot of visitors! It was great to have them, and we hope to see them all again.

2x 1/8A (Micro Maxx)
1x 1/2A
8x A
14x B
1x C

Ohio weather has been unkind to us of late. I hope I’m not the only one who is frustrated with scrubbed launches – CORSA makes every effort to keep our launches safe!
We’ll scrub a launch if the weather would make it unsafe to be outdoors in a open field, though we do have and use a lightning detector, which gives advance warning of storms moving in. We won’t launch if the field is too muddy to set up without damaging the site.
We’ll also scrub if the weather would not comply with the NAR safety code. At Freedom Park, we don’t have a lot of room, so if winds are predicted to be consistently near the 20 MPH NAR limit, we’ll likely cancel the launch.
We can withstand a little rainfall or snowfall, but not steady precipitation.

Come out and launch with us!

The Columbus Clippers celebrated National Space Weekend again this year, and again invited CORSA to participate. We had a great time, and talked to lots of people about hobby rocketry. Kids were fascinated, and grown-ups remembered their days building and launching rockets.

Hobbyland donated kits for giveaways Saturday and Sunday. Lance won on Saturday, and Logan won Sunday. Congratulations!

Logan was our prize winner Sunday

Due to scheduling issues, we’ve canceled our November club launch. But instead, we plan to go to the November 11 Wright Stuff Rocketeers launch. Their launch site near Cedarville has a waiver to 10,000 feet. We hope to  see some great high power launches there.

Our third time launching rockets with Big Walnut Cub Scout Pack 701  was the best yet! We hope to see these scouts and their families at future launches.

We used the following motors:

30 – A
9 – B
4 – C

The scouts brought a wide variety of rockets, and they performed extremely well. We had several igniter failures; we’re planning additional study. The modern Estes igniters seem to occasionally burn, but fail to start the motor. A recent Sport Rocketry magazine article had a suggestion that we plan to try at our next launch.

We used the new launch rail that Chuck built – it worked and looked great! He has a few finishing touches to apply; it should be finished for our October launch.

David Nulter shot these photos:

In two years, it will have been 50 years since Neil Armstrong, representing all people of Earth, took a small step onto the surface of the moon. As a nine-year old, I was transfixed, glued to the TV, and hanging on every word about the mission that I could find to read. To this day, that experience affects my life.

We should commemorate that giant leap for humankind event as a club. We should all build models of the Saturn V, as many as we can muster. There are a variety of Saturn V models available, in a range of scales and detail. Find one (or several!) to suit your modeling skills, and get started.

The club owns a classic Estes Saturn V kit (Estes #1236 – kit K-36). Perhaps the best use of this would be as a club construction project? I’m open to suggestions.

I’ve started on my Dr. Zooch ant-scale Saturn V, have started planing my Estes Saturn V (#2157) construction, and have ordered an Apogee 1/70th scale Saturn V kit. Should keep me busy – think I’d have time to try the Sirius kit too?

We had a great couple of days at the Sunbury Community Library working with the summer program in a rocketry class. We built Semroc My Boid and Quest Payloader One kits, and discussed rocket science, safety, and construction techniques. It’s always encouraging to see the enthusiasm and curiosity of today’s youth!

Our launch on 7/14 had to be postponed due to wet conditions, but was fine for the rain date on 7/21. We had a great day, the kids and their families had a great time. One rocket that didn’t go together well failed our swing test, but that was a great learning experience. The other rockets all flew well, and recovered well.

We put a Quest How High altimeter into a payload section and flew it on a few of the Payloader Ones, with a variety of motors. We had the crowd guess what altitude would be achieved with each flight, and there were some pretty good guesses. On an A6-4, it got to 131 ft; on a B6-4, to 359 ft; and on a C6-5, it flew to 675 ft.

Club members flew some of our own rockets too. Below is a great photo of Curtis’s Maxi Alpha III lifting off. Thanks to all of the members who helped with the class!

photo by Curtis