CHAMPAIGN-URBANA, Illinois USA — If Jonathan Sivier and his friends have their way, Champaign-Urbana might seem a little like Cape Kennedy over the next few months.

OK, maybe there won't be any space shuttle launches here. But Sivier and other members of Central Illinois Aerospace – CIA for short – are going to give local kids a chance to launch their own rockets starting with an event at 2 p.m. March 31 in the Champaign Public Library, 505 S. Randolph St.

The model rocket club won't actually be launching any rockets in the library. But it will be explaining action and reaction, stability and other things that make rockets go in general, how model rockets work in particular, and how kids can get involved in model rocketry.

Sivier, who works for the University of Illinois Institute of Aviation, said the event is geared to grade school students, but anybody interested in model rockets is welcome, even adults. No registration is required.

"It's a fun thing to do," he said. "I certainly think it's a good family activity."

Model rocketry is a nice outdoor activity as well, he added, and besides the thrill of the launch, you can get some good exercise in running around retrieving your rockets.

The library session will be followed by "3, 2, 1 ... Blast Off!," from 9 to 11 a.m. May 12 at the Champaign Park District's Leonhard Recreation Center, 2112 W. Sangamon Drive.

At that session, participants will build a rocket in the morning (there's a $20 fee for a rocket kit and motor) and launch it in the afternoon, weather permitting, at Dodds Park, Mattis and Bradley avenues in Champaign.

"It's a class we do every year through the park district," Sivier said.

That will be followed by the club's Great Annual Rocket Launch of 2007 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. June 30 at Dodds Park.

"We usually have 100 to 150 rockets flown," Sivier said.

Some classic model rockets will be featured this year in honor of the 50th birthday of the National Association of Rocketry, a major model rocketry group, and the 50th anniversary of Sputnik, the first manmade satellite in orbit, which launched the space race.

In addition, the local club at its monthly meeting in April, from 7 to 9 p.m. Tuesday the 3rd at the Springer Cultural Center, 301 North Randolph St., C, will have a presentation about high-power model rocketry. Sivier said some people here have used the larger and heavier rockets, with correspondingly more powerful motors, to launch model rockets more than a mile high.