Estes Model Rocket News was a staple for many early model rocketeers, keeping the enthusiast in touch with what was going on in the hobby as well as in the Estes home office.  This document, Model Rocket News, The Best of Volume 1 and 2 is a collection of articles from their first two volumes.  In this document, you will find articles about launching various insects into space, Estes take on model rocketry vs. amateur rocketry, a model rocket glossary, an altitude tracking technical report, plans from The Idea Box, three complete model rocket plans, even an article about launching a fish into space!

"The AMA has its annual 'Nats' that draws over a thousand contestants and which has been going on for years.  Another small but growing group of hobbyists has also been holding a national meet for two years running, and they are just as proud of it, work just as hard for it, and have just as much fun at it as the model aviators." This was the opening paragraph in the article "Rocket Championships" from the American Modeler Annual magazine from 1961.  The article was about NARAM, the National Association of Rocketry's Annual Meet, the NAR's annual contest, an event that has been going strong since 1958. 

"This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title 18, U. S. C., Section 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law." Such wording would normally be cause for concern if you were reading classified material openly on the Internet, but this recently de-classified document has been deemed by the United States Goverment to be safe for general consumption. 

"There is a lot more to model rocketry than building and flying your own missiles.  Sooner or later, you're going to want to know how well your missile performed and how high it went. To do this job for its big missiles, the government has spend several hundred megabucks in such places as White Sands and Cape Canaveral.  Fortunately, you don't need to have this sort of money to set up adequate proving ground[s] of your own." These were G. Harry Stine's opening words in "Colorado's Little Canaveral," an article that appeared in American Modeler magazine in December 1958. 

"A case of the cart running away with the horse, Estes Industries was started in 1958 as a spare time occupation by Vernon Estes, then a Denver, Colorado building contractor.  Vern devoted his energies at first to designing, building and perfecting a machine to make model rocket engines safely and automatically.  The result was "Mable," a prima donna who, when happy, would make, inspect, and print one model rocket engine every 5 1/2 seconds." So goes the opening paragraph in "Model Rocket News, Volume 3, Number 2" that was published by Estes Industries in the April/May issue from 1963.