Mark your calendar. The Northeast Florida Association of Rocketry (NEFAR) hosts it’s annual Bunnell Blast two-day rocket launch in November. The launch, near Daytona Beach, Florida, begins at 9:00am on Saturday, November 9, and continues on Sunday, November 10. On Saturday, the sport and research launch extends until after dusk to incorporate night launches.
Traditionally, Bunnell Blast has been the time when rocketry hobbyists debut their biggest and most challenging projects.
COCOA BEACH, Fla. – The National Association of Rocketry (NAR) will convene its next annual national convention, known as NARCON, on Florida’s Space Coast during the weekend of Feb. 28 to March 2, 2014.
NARCON 2014 will feature technical sessions related to building and flying model rockets, related exhibits, a dinner featuring a “Meet the Astronauts” opportunity, and guest speakers drawn from some of the local “space legends.”
“Hosting NARCON 2014 here on the Space Coast is just a natural,” said Patrick McCarthy, chairman of the NARCON 2014 organizing committee and director of spaceport operations for Space Florida, the state’s space agency.
“Our focus will be on the past, present and future of rocketry at all levels – from the beginning model rocketeer to the professionals flying the real deal all the way to Earth orbit and beyond,” McCarthy said.
Tours of nearby Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station will be available, and an opening reception will be held at the Air Force Space & Missile Museum History Center.
The International Palms Resort and Conference Center in Cocoa Beach will serve as the beachfront host to NARCON 2014. More than 100 model rocketeers from around the nation are expected to attend.
After the scrub in July, we were anxious to get back to launching rockets. We had a pretty good turnout in spite of the heat and thunderstorms in the forecast.
Please visit the August ROCK Launch Photo Album at RocketReviews.com to see the rest of my photos from the launch.
With the forecast calling for thunderstorms, I was reluctant to make the 1 1/2 trip to Bunnell for NEFAR’s July rocket launch. But, Saturday morning, I checked the weather radar and current conditions for the area and it looked okay. So, Bracha and I, Chris of Odd’l Rockets, our friend David, Dave’s brother Larry, Dave’s granddaughter Cassidy, and Oscar the wonder dog all piled into our mini-van for the trek to the Clegg sod farm for the launch. We were rewarded with a great day for flying rockets!
Cassidy helped get things started by flying her Popcorn rocket on a B6-4 motor.
The soggy and wet field, provided a good environment for sparky motors. Gary’s two-stage Quantum Leap flew on an I297 staged to a G64, but the second-stage motor failed to ignite. The onboard electronics, however, deployed the parachutes and returned the booster and sustainer safely to earth.
Mike Birnbaum’s Titan turned in a picture-perfect flight on three E9 motors.
Besides handing the LCO/RSO duties most of the day, Steve Ghioto flew his Big Red saucer on an I175. The flight didn’t go exactly as planned.
The trailer is fine and I think Steve’s saucer will fly again.
The other Steve, Steve Pollack, flew his Maxi Orbital Transport on a K630 for another crowd-pleasing flight.
Heather Martin’s “Into Darkness” appeared to lose parts of its H110 motor on the way up.
I didn’t get any photos of it, but … we also witnessed a flight where the motor apparently traveled through a rocket and out onto its own. The motor, by itself, flew stable for a few seconds, shooting into the sky, then, as tracking smoke poured out, it started to corkscrew before it finally began tumbling back to earth.
You can view all of my photos from the NEFAR launch in the Photo Album at RocketReviews.com:
http://www.rocketreviews.com/july-2013-launch.html
Weather is often a concern for rocket launches here in Central Florida during late Spring and Summer. High winds and afternoon thunderstorms are common. But, we were fortunate the past couple of weeks as the bad weather stayed away long enough for us to have successful launches.
ROCK’s rocket launch was held on June 1st. A little wind and a few sprinkles of rain interrupted us a few times, but we had a great time.
You can see more photos from the June 2013 ROCK launch in the RocketReviews.com Photo Album.
Chris and I saw black clouds during our drive to the June TTRA launch in Plant City. But, only a few drops of rain fell on us while we were there.
Chris flew his Quest Raptor, Big Girtha, and Dr. Zooch Titan IIIc.
The damp weather provided a safe environment for a couple of sparky motor flights.
Ken Siler flew a really nice upscale Big Bertha.
We never expected to see a Gnome (actually, The Gnome) flying on a G motor.
Just before we left, we witnessed an interesting motor failure.
You can view the rest of my photos from the TTRA June 2013 launch at RocketReviews.com.
I’ve uploaded my photos of the May, 2013, NEFAR launch to the Photo Album at http://www.rocketreviews.com/may-2013-launch.html.
Bunnell experienced an almost perfect day for flying rockets last Saturday and many rocketry fanatics took advantage of the nice weather at NEFAR’s March rocket launch.
Some cool scale models flew from the low-power pads.
Tom Tweit’s scale model of Rocket Goddard’s Nell turned in a terrific flight.
Out on the high-power pads, one rocket chuffed up the launch rod then stayed there as others were launched.
An Estes E9 provided some excitement when its nozzle failed. Fortunately, Fireman Steve and his can of Minute Maid soda were on hand to save the day.
Our Big Daddy Akavish also provided some undesired excitement. Bracha and I flew it on a CTI K490 motor.
The lift off went well, but a few seconds later, the rocket took a sudden turn. The altimeter deployed the parachute while the motor continued to burn. The rocket made a hard, tragic landing. Postmortem analysis showed a big hole in the side of the motor.
Additional photos from the launch can be viewed in the RocketReviews.com Photo Album.
High winds threatened to spoil an otherwise perfect day for rocket launching.
But, we monitored the wind speed and launched during the pauses between the gusts.
Tom tested the winds by flying his Lawn Dart. It landed not too far from the launch pads. Then Tom flew his latest creation, No Stack.
Tom’s cardboard creation performed a few aerobatic loops after leaving the launch rod.
Between the gusts of wind, Carl Campbell snuck a few launches of prototypes for upcoming scale kits from DFR Tech.
We were once again visited by an eagle which accompanied a flock of turkey buzzards circling over our launch site for a few minutes.
Ton Tweit launched his FlisKit’s Nell twice. The first time, the igniter leads caught on the bottom of the rocket and it barely left the launch rod. The second time, it flew well on a B motor.
When I first saw the new little plastic Coke bottles, my first thought was … that would make a neat rocket. Someone else had the same idea, but actually did it.
Tom T’s Pink Crayon was not the last launch of the day, but Bracha, Oscar, and I had to leave a little early, so it’s the last launch we saw.
You can view the rest of my photos of the March ROCK Launch in the RocketReviews.com Photo Album.
A clear blue sky and cool temperatures with light wind provided an excellent day for rocketry as ROCK held its February launch.
My photos from the launch are available for viewing in the RocketReviews.com Photo Album at http://www.rocketreviews.com/february-2013-launch.html.
Featuring “The Dude”:
I’ll post still photos from the launch soon.