IT'S BEEN FIVE YEARS TO THE DAY since I wrote my last editorial.  A lot has changed since then, but then again, a lot hasn't.  I wanted to take a "look-see" approach to the hobby since my absence had given opportunity for much to happen.

San Francisco is a beautiful city of much renown but to a rocket-head, there is only one weekend destination to see: SF-88, the historic Nike Missile Site. Located in the Marin Headlands near Fort Barry, on the other side of the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful bay that it spans, SF-88 is nestled in the hills facing the ocean where it enjoys a wide-angled view of any unforeseen danger to the city. 

It happened way back in 1969.  Jamie Clay, of San Rafael, California, had a birthday, and on this birthday, he got a Hasbro GI Joe Mercury Space Capsule.  Fast forward, thirty years later. Toys-R-Us and Hasbro have re-issued the GI Joe Mercury Space Capsule, and Jamie was better prepared to follow up on his earlier childhood dreams.  He wanted to do a special Level 3 project, and the GI Joe Mercury Space Capsule seemed like a viable subject.  The capsule's base was 9.25" in diameter and all it took was a locating a body tube of that size and the projected began to gel.

How many different ways can you spell W-O-W!  If the first issue is any indication of what we can expect from LAUNCH Magazine, then not only does publisher Mark Mayfield have a hit on his hands, so does the hobby rocketry community. When the premiere issue appeared in my mailbox, I couldn't wait to get a look at the latest hobby rocketry publication.  Upon opening the envelope, I have to admit I was extremely impressed with the slick, glossy cover, professional binding and overall appearance.  And this was just from the outside!

Verna and Randy DeArman, both 50, live in Pinson, Alabama, just north of Birmingham.  They both work for a local SBA lender where Verna is in charge of servicing and Randy is a sales manager and on-site inspector.  And they both enjoy the thrill of model rocketry and share their excitement with others through the model rocketry web site, VernaRockets.com. To them, model rocketry is a family affair.

I recently acquired an Escape Velocity 2.6, one of Giant Leap Rocketry's "Ready to Fly" kits.  This kit is a 2.56" speedster that includes everything you need other than a motor and launch pad to build and launch your own high powered rocket.

AS WE CELEBRATE the 227th anniversary of our country's formal declaration of independence this coming Friday, it's always useful to review how we've evolved since then as a nation. While I'd be the last to urge anyone to forego the barbecue and beer, and other festivities that have become de rigeur in recent years, I also believe that the event is one to be commemorated, as well as simply celebrated.

IT'S BEEN A WHILE since I have written here, but in light of the recent events that have inadvertently affected the rocketry hobby, I have been going over a few things in my head. Like most of you, I watched with wide-eyed horror as the events of September 11th unfolded upon the American landscape. Nothing as horrific has ever happened to American citizens on their own soil.