July 18-19 are the dates for the next SoAR High Power launch in Lilly, GA.

Monday July 20th is the 40th Anniversary of the first manned landing on the Moon.  It is also the date (stay tuned for the time) for our Apollo 11 40th Anniversary Celebration. This dinner will be held at the Golden Corral at North Point Mall in Alpharetta, GA (same place we held the holiday party!).  As usual, we will have door prizes and video clips.

SoAR will sponsor a competition to be held at the Charlie Elliot Wildlife Center launch to be held on July 25, 2008. The competition requires each entrant to build an Estes Baby Bertha. Here are the rules as they stand:

1. There are three contests: Bertha Beauty, Bertha Duration, and Iron Bertha. A motor restriction will be enforced on the duration portion of the competition....so make sure you have the proper motor(s). Prizes will be awarded for each category.....DON'T EXPECT MUCH! The judges decisions are final. Bribery is encouraged but not required.
2. You must use all of the parts supplied with the Baby Bertha kit (yes, even the cheezee shock cord). You can put the fins on upside down or even angle them, but the supplied fins must be used. Any decorative parts are considered part of the rocket....if they come off, you will DQ on the Iron Bertha part of the contest. If you've got the parts, scratch building is allowed...take care with your dimensions! Hey people, rockets entered in the Bertha Beauty contest must still pass range safety. We're trying to promote creativity....but we won't sacrifice safety.
3. For the duration component of the contest, the total Impulse of the installed motors is limited to 2.5 NS. Based on the Estes and Quest engine charts this means: one Estes A3-4T, A10-3T, A8-3, A8-5, or Quest A6-4.  Or you can cluster smaller motors up to a total of 2.5 newton-seconds.
4. For the Iron Bertha portion of the contest, any certified motor may be used.
5. If a rocket hangs up in a tree during the duration component of the competition, the time stops when the rocket hangs.
6. If a rocket hangs up in a tree during the Iron Bertha component of the competiton, as long as the rocket is recovered with no damage (the chute can be destroyed), you're good to go.

Saturday afternoon the forecast was for partly cloudy and 6000 degrees....but that didn't stop about 30 rocketeers from spending an excellent afternoon doing what we enjoy most, flying rockets!

The CEWC field is a generous 1500' x 1500' clear with low cut grass. The field itself is surrounded by 40 to 60 foot pines so staying on the field is crucial. The nearest building is nearly one mile away so when the FAA gets round to approving our waiver, we will certainly be able to fly Level 1 high power rockets on this field if the winds cooperate. Saturday's winds were gusting to 17mph which made launching high an issue, but certainly helped keep things cool.

The NAR and AIA have announced the new targets for next year's Team America Rocketry Challenge. The basics are:

• One egg, any configuration.
• Max of 1000 grams (2.2 pounds) liftoff mass
• Target *range* of 40-45 seconds duration. Minimum duration of 35 seconds. Lower durations will be discouraged by stiff penalties as compared to higher durations.
• Target altitude of 825 feet.
• Three qualifying attempts allowed, though only two can be made after March 10.
• Max of 80NS power (equivalent to a full F motor).
• And the most important! STREAMER RECOVERY for the egg and altimeter! No parachute, though one may be used for the rest of the rocket.

The rules for TARC 2010 offer a new kind of challenge to the student teams, forcing even teams that may have entered TARC previously to go "back to the drawing board" and learn some new rocketry skills. While the flight goal remains flying an egg to a precise altitude (825 feet this year) and duration, the teams this year will be required to use a completely different type of recovery device to return the egg and altimeter: a streamer rather than a parachute. The techniques for achieving the duration goal with a streamer are quite different; it's harder, and it will put a new emphasis on protecting the fragile egg payload.

TARC 2010 registration opens on September 2, 2009. For more information on the event, remember to visit .

The Finals are planned for May 15, 2010 at The Plains, Virginia.

At each SoAR launch, there will be a bucket (white, about 12" diameter) that is designated as Dale Windsor's Bucket O'Rockets. Land any part of your rocket in that bucket and you'll win a jackpot of rocket kits. If no one gets in the bucket at a launch, the prizes will roll over to the next launch, and another prize will (occasionally) be added!

The current list of prizes (as of May 2008):

• limited edition Roachwerks Saturn IB kit
• Estes SpaceShipOne
• ASP WAC Corporal
• Estes Scissor-Wing Transport (the newest re-issue)
• NOVA ASP