A large group of TWA members were on hand for the 2003 installment of Rockets for School.
About twenty eight level-1 rockets and six level-2 rockets had to be inspected and judged, and several had to be adjusted by the crew of volunteers. In the motor room, about thirty I-284 W’s, and seven K-1100 T’s
Were prepared by another set of volunteers. By the end of Friday, all the rockets were judged, and fitted with motors for launching Saturday. The four inch level-1 rockets were PML Quantum kits while the level-2 rockets were five and a half inch kits. Schools that had participated for several years in RFS were eligible for the level-2 rockets. For the second year in a row, Bruce Kelly from Tripoli attended RFS to promote Tripoli, assist in launch preparations, and cover the event in HPR magazine. Other Friday highlights included an impressive fly over of a US bomber, and a speech from a NASA Space Shuttle astronaut scheduled to fly on STS-120.

Saturday’s weather did not live up to the early forecast. When I arrived at about 9:00 AM, it was overcast, windy and cold, but it got even worse when the fog rolled in. Almost all the level-1 four inch rockets were found to have very tight pistons as well as the fit of the payload presumably from the cold weather combined with the humidity. The consensus was that many of the rockets were so tight that deployment of the parachutes would be a major problem. A crew of about ten removed the pistons from all the rockets, and sanded the payload coupler to achieve a smoother fit. About the time we finished with the rockets, the weather seemed to be improving; the first group of students headed down the pier to the pads, while Mike Dybul, Tim Lehr, and Chuck Nozika began preparations of their Tripoli demo flights. But the fog rolled back in as the student rockets were being readied at the pads. A few of the rockets were eventually launched, but most of the rockets never had a chance. The highlight of Saturday, which I happened to miss, was a spectacular (I’ve been told!) fly over of another US bomber, this time a Stealth.

A few of the schools will launch their rockets at Bong this summer, but many of the rockets will likely never get a chance to fly.