Brothers Oregon High Power Launch Site (photo Gary Goncher)

The Oregon Rocketry high power launch season is now complete. The next high power launch will be in May, 2012. We had a great launch season after a wet and cold start for the April and May launches. Due to the efforts of our past president Robert Krausert and launch director Randy Birzer we had a new high altitude waiver at the Brothers site of about 42,000 ft. AGL. 2011 marked the debut of a new launch for OROC dubbed the “Northwest Xtreme Rocket Show”, an all-experimental launch that took advantage of the new waiver and saw some seriously large rockets fly at Brothers. The club saw membership rise to its highest level in years, closing out the launch season at 102 members for 2011. Sadly, we also lost one of our own this year when Michael Lockhart passed away from cancer. You will be missed Michael.

We also had a very active low power launch schedule for 2011. Keith Packard set up a monthly launch last year at Wilsonville Memorial Park that was continued this year and has proved very popular. The end of the 2011 low power flying season is Sunday, Nov. 13 – still a chance to fly a few rockets before the rains wash everything away. Oregon Rocketry participated in several community rocket events this year. Steve Tarr and Bruce Carey made several rocketry presentations to local student groups, and Ken McGoffin ran several “build and fly” launch events for scouts in southern Washington. Thanks to their efforts, Oregon Rocketry is building the foundation for the continued success of the sport of model rocketry, and focusing attention on science and engineering for the next generation.

The schedule for launches in 2012 was approved at the November meeting and is attached below.  Start building your rockets now for the 2012 season.

2012 launch schedule:

Spring Thunder             May 11-13                (Fri. research, Sat.-Sun. commercial)

Summer Skies              June 8-10                (Fri. research, Sat.-Sun. commercial)

NXRS                         June 29-July 1          (3 days research only)

Desert Heat                 July 27-29                (Fri. research, Sat.-Sun. commercial)

SSX                           Aug. 31-Sept. 2         (3 days commercial only)

Fillible’s Folly              Sept. 21-23               (Fri. members only, Sat.-Sun. public)

Rocketober                  Oct. 19-21                (Fri. research, Sat.-Sun. commercial)