Rocketry Planet

WE HAVE NOW PUBLISHED three issues of LAUNCH Magazine. We’re very encouraged that nearly 600 Barnes & Noble stores ordered copies of Issue 3 to sell in their stores and it's a good bet that the orders will go up as we progress through the year. By rocketry magazine standards, Issue 3 is a large one—90 pages—and it certainly represents where we're trying to go with the magazine. Our mission is to present a wide diversity of articles from the worlds of hobby rocketry and professional space flight—in a magazine with the highest production values. We also are committed to using experts like veteran space writer James Oberg, who has agreed to become a regular contributor to the magazine.

It's now on to Issue 4, but I wanted to take a few moments to reflect back on these past few months as we have gathered momentum for LAUNCH. I'm reminded of two things that I kept hearing originally: 1. It was good to see a national consumer magazine enter the hobby rocketry world.  (And I must say that the comments from hobbyists have been heart-warming.) 2. There was genuine concern among some people about whether we could make it. "After all, it's a small hobby," I was told. And of course, that is certainly true when it comes to the number of people who actually compete in rocketry contests.

Jan/Feb LAUNCH Magazine is on news stands now.

But there is a much larger world out there among people who are interested in space exploration, and very often that interest extends, however casually, to models and rocketry. I'm the perfect example of someone who has never competed in rocket contests, but I've been building model rockets for nearly 40 years. Yet, even among people who don't build flying models, there is a lot of interest in reading about them. In fact, we're interviewing some of them for future issues of LAUNCH (including actors, politicians, scientists, TV anchors, and, yes, astronauts.)

I've been in the consumer magazine business for quite a while now, coming to it via the newspaper business. (I was on the start-up staff of USA Today in 1982 and worked there 10 years before entering the magazine world.) I've edited magazines large and small, from the 150,000 circulation Art & Antiques to the 850,000 circulation House Beautiful. LAUNCH is the smallest one yet in terms of its start-up, but it won't stay that way.

So how are we doing it? We believe in trying our best to publish a quality product, and we believe in listening to the right people—those who are open-minded and convinced that nothing is impossible if you have the guts to try it. There are great people in this hobby. My biz partner Deb Martin and I have discussed many times how much we enjoy dealing with the readers and advertisers from model rocketry. In fact, I've never enjoyed working on any publication as much as I've enjoyed working on this one, and it's because of the wonderful vendors and readers out there.

But there are also people who have a tough time with change. This isn't a trait that belongs solely to rocketry. I've seen this same kind of attitude in many other industries. If you study the truly successful people in any industry (take your pick), you'll see that they're the ones who were willing to try something new… all the time!

New times demand new paradigms. Are you ready?  Are we?

Ted Turner was told early on that no one would ever actually pay for this thing called cable television—and most assuredly not if he kept broadcasting wrestling and Gomer Pyle reruns. Well, today, the list of people in the cable TV industry who are saying "Thank You" to Turner is an infinite one, beginning with his own CNN and ending with the cast of The Sopranos. And speaking of The Sopranos: Where are those people who said that HBO would be heading straight out of business once people could rent videos and now DVDs? HBO reinvented itself with original programming.

I know that I'm digressing here, but I mention all this to underscore a point regarding hobby rocketry: If you think you have "been there and done that," think again. And if you failed at something 10 years ago, maybe it's time to try it again, perhaps with more aggressiveness and resolve this time around. And maybe it's time to put some PR behind it, to let people know you're doing it. Often people put tremendous effort into a project or a program, but exert virtually no effort in promoting it.

Today, rocketry faces incredible odds with tough new regulations, a shrinking array of launch sites, and with the many diversions that kids, in particular, now have with computers, video games, MP3 players and so on. But these are only challenges. They don't mean the end to hobby rocketry. In fact, with the new commercial space flight programs, I believe this country is on the verge of another space age, albeit a much different one than the original.

Children still love rockets, as evidenced by these eager faces in the AeroTech booth at this year's X PRIZE Cup in New Mexico.

To be sure, kids today will never again have the kind of space heroes that many of us did growing up in the 1960s. But they may have something even better: A chance to participate directly in the development of privately funded space operations. It used to be just NASA and its contractors. Now it's Spaceport America, Blue Origin, Space Ship Two, Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, Robert Bigelow, Peter Diamandis and Burt Rutan.  And yes, there were some problems with the X PRIZE Cup exposition this year, but the concept is good and it will gain steam and popularity over the coming years. NASA also has been reinvigorated with a new focus, and an aggressive new administrator bent on moving the agency forward.

There is one other very interesting trend going on out there: Parents are getting tired of their kids being stuck to a computer keyboard. I should know: I have an 11-year-old daughter who now has limited time on her computer and is being strongly encouraged to do something constructive with her spare time. There is a retro movement by parents to get their kids to do something with their hands and their minds.

Kids love to hear and read about rocketry—that is when someone takes the time to introduce them to it. We all need to commit ourselves to encouraging them in that direction. Many of the great vendors in model rocketry have been doing that for a long time. But they need our help.

LAUNCH Magazine has had some initial success because we decided that if we were going to do it, we'd do it right. That doesn't mean we haven't made mistakes. We've made plenty. But it's not for a lack of trying. The half-baked approached to anything is the wrong approach. It's all out, or nothing. It's time for a change, and tomorrow, it'll be time for another one.

Mark Mayfield is editor-in-chief of LAUNCH Magazine. Mark has previously served in the role of editor-in-chief of magazines House Beautiful, Traditional Home, Southern Accents, Arts & Antiques and InCircle Entree and prior to the magazine industry, Mark was an original founding staff member of USA Today, where he spent 10 years as an editor and writer. You may reach him by email at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it . We strongly encourage you to engage our guest editorialists in commentary, as their contributions are what makes your hobby move forward. If you would like to comment publicly, post your response below.

Reader comments:

#1 Putting it out there

Seems as if our small family of flyers (NAR and TRA) has a few friends in great places to help spread the word and excitement about the hobby and some of the over zealous regulatory issues we deal with. Common sense suggests the more publicity and coverage we get, the better informed the general public will become. I, for one, can't get enough space coverage from the news media without having to dig for it and have really liked what I've seen so far from LAUNCH. Spread the word and keep up with all of the changes coming. Thanks.

Rocketjoe13 on 01-16-2007 07:11 PM

#2

A small world? Only if you can't compete and from the looks of it Mr. Mayfield and company at Launch magazine shouldn't have any problems doing that.

Getting Barnes and Noble to carry the mag is huge and will put the hobby in front of a tremendous number of people. Maybe we'll even have to start ordering extra porta potties at all those launches to handle the crush of new hobbyists.

I wonder what the ATF thinks about spending all that taxpayer money to ruin our hobby and now a brand new rocketry magazine thumbs their nose at them and gets into one of the biggest bookstores in the country. I love it...

I haven't seen an issue yet (I just subscribed) so I'm wondering if NAR and TRA are prominently mentioned in each issue. Are the org's letting the casual reader know they're around by doing any advertising?

Andrew Grippo

agrippo on 01-16-2007 07:37 PM

#3 Very well put...

What a great article. Mark definitely has his head screwed on straight, particularly with the part about the current regulatory environment being a challenge and not a detrimental situation. Things change and new circumstances present themselves. It's all how we respond to them that will determine our chance for success or failure.

I am glad to see more people joining the conversation as well. This is our community. If no one wants to participate, it will be a "challenge" for it to grow. I want to see more guest editorials, and understand that to get their participation, we, the users, are going to have to step up to the plate and give them a reason to write for us.

Thanks again for taking the time Mark, and thanks in advance to all the lurking guest writers that I know will take this opportunity and submit articles as well.

crontab on 01-16-2007 09:46 PM

#4 How to attract new members

I suggest we all run down to our local B&N and run to the magazine rack, pick up and issue and start reading it in the store while making exclamations like. "WOW check this out." "This is so cool!" "What an awesome hobby." Nothing like free advertising.

The Bayourat

Bayourat on 01-16-2007 10:58 PM

#5 Thank you, Rocketjoe13, agrippo, crontab & Bayourat

I want to thank these first four commenters for validating the effort that Mark Mayfield put into writing an article to share with the users of Rocketry Planet. Mark is a professional—that's obvious from looking at his list of previous employment—but as a professional, he has the obligations that come along with that to occupy his time. He doesn't have to take time away from his family and business obligations to write an article for you to read, but he does, and for that you should be willing to reciprocate by giving him feedback for his effort.

Rocketry Planet has the opportunity to present some of the largest and most well-respected names in hobby rocketry, both from today as well as names from the past. The only compensation they request is feedback. What a win-win situation, where you can simply respond and they get 100% of what they were looking for. So thank you, you four, for setting the stage for more guest editorialists and for showing the rest of the community how to meet the expectations of our guests, a simple exchange of information that they truly deserve for taking the time to share with all of us.

ddmobley on 01-17-2007 02:46 PM

#6 LAUNCH Magazine; Kids Reaching for the Stars

Mark Mayfield is so right; I've personally participated with the NASA/Houston Rocket Club (NHRC) Section # 365 the REMAX Ballunar Liftoff Festivals for the past three years (since becoming a BAR in late 2003), and you should see the eager faces of the kids and young people staring at our model rocket displays under our tent when we're not flying. And, when it's time for our launch window(s), we drew huge crowds excited about watching model rockets taking to the skies.

Dave, NAR # 21853 SR., Team # 040
Challenger 498 Section NAR Advisor

dwmzmm on 01-17-2007 09:00 PM

#7

Mark is certainly a class act. He was able to attend our annual convention (NEMROC) in October and represented not only LAUNCH magazine, but rocketry itself very well.

He is a champion to our cause and a pleasure to chat with too

jim

jflis on 01-18-2007 11:07 AM

#8

Quote:

I haven't seen an issue yet (I just subscribed) so I'm wondering if NAR and TRA are prominently mentioned in each issue. Are the org's letting the casual reader know they're around by doing any advertising? Andrew Grippo

I have since received and reviewed Launch magazine and find it to be interesting and well thought out. Congratulations on a well conceived business plan. It's great to see such a professional publication directed towards our hobby.

I was impressed with the foresight of some of the hobby's vendors that advertised in the issue and thought NAR taking out a full page ad was another example of the organization's dedication to increasing membership.

Unfortunately, I didn't see any advertisements from Tripoli and I'm left wondering why TRA doesn't see the immense benefit to buying some space in a great new magazine that covers the hobby they are supposed to be dedicated to supporting.

Wake up TRA, this magazine will be offered for sale to millions of people every two months. Don't you want a part of that???

Andrew Grippo

agrippo on 01-27-2007 01:40 PM

#9 Smoke screen?

Quote:

Unfortunately, I didn't see any advertisements from Tripoli and I'm left wondering why TRA doesn't see the immense benefit to buying some space in a great new magazine that covers the hobby they are supposed to be dedicated to supporting.

Wake up TRA, this magazine will be offered for sale to millions of people every two months. Don't you want a part of that???

Unfortunately, Andrew, it appears Tripoli's marketing director is an ostrich. By sticking their heads in the sand, they hope the focus of the public will pass right over.

But perhaps there is a ray of light in the approach: no doubt, the larger high-power and experimental rockets that tend to gravitate towards Tripoli are the same type of rockets that send terror shockwaves through the general public. Smaller model rockets tend to integrate very well with the themes of children and increasing America's presence in the science and engineering sectors.

John Q. Public is likely to support the relaxation of regulatory oversight when it applies to model rockets, children and elevating America. Throw in terrorism and 20 foot tall high-power rockets, and Mr. Public would fail to make the connection between science and children, instead running for a bunker and a gas mask. The absence of high power marketing in LAUNCH could simply be a diversionary tactic to keep a buffer between the public and the upper extremes of the hobby.

crontab on 01-27-2007 03:26 PM

#10

Quote:

Unfortunately, Andrew, it appears Tripoli's marketing director is an ostrich. By sticking their heads in the sand, they hope the focus of the public will pass right over.

But perhaps there is a ray of light in the approach: no doubt, the larger high-power and experimental rockets that tend to gravitate towards Tripoli are the same type of rockets that send terror shockwaves through the general public. Smaller model rockets tend to integrate very well with the themes of children and increasing America's presence in the science and engineering sectors.

John Q. Public is likely to support the relaxation of regulatory oversight when it applies to model rockets, children and elevating America. Throw in terrorism and 20 foot tall high-power rockets, and Mr. Public would fail to make the connection between science and children, instead running for a bunker and a gas mask. The absence of high power marketing in LAUNCH could simply be a diversionary tactic to keep a buffer between the public and the upper extremes of the hobby.

The marketing director (if there is one, which I doubt) of TRA being an ostrich is an understatement...

Crontab the following response doesn't have anything to do with you personally or your post but is simply a reflection of my opinion as to the state of the hobby and the TRA organization.

Everyone think about this a moment, I've never met anyone from outside the hobby that began convulsing with "terror shockwaves" or asked for names of supply outfits carrying gas masks when they are told about or become aware of high power rockets. Every comment I've always heard was more like "Cool".

If TRA is performing a diversionary tactic by being absent from a national publication covering our hobby then I guess the diversion is to somehow make the paying hobbyists in their organization think they're doing they're primarily elected job when they aren't.

As an outsider of the board looking in I see the bottom line as the VP (Pat G.) of Tripoli as a solid guy who goes way out of his way to promote TRA and the hobby as much as he can, if we got the equivalent amount of public effort out of the remaining eight members of the board then TRA would be unstoppable. I know those eight board members are doing things behind the scenes but that isn't enough to publicly promote the hobby.

Without positive and solid growth of the organization it will wither and die. If you think of Launch magazine as being a tool to help grow the organization and the hobby it can be effective. It will never be effective as a tool though if it isn't used.

My guess as to why TRA isn't in Launch may have more to do with them being tied into ROCKETS magazine then any other reason but unless someone from the board decides to comment we really won't know what their party line is but petty politics sure seem to have a way of cropping up when it comes to setting general TRA policy.

Have a Great Day!!!

Andrew Grippo

agrippo on 01-29-2007 10:23 AM

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