DRYDEN, New York USA — Various locations in the Town of Dryden welcomed the Ithaca Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol from March 16-18 as they hosted a Cadet Rocketry Weekend. Squadrons from Oneonta, Binghamton, Elmira and Rochester sent representatives to Dryden to brave the wintry weather.

During the event, the group focused on rocket building and bringing the right instructors together with students who were willing to learn.

The weekend started Friday evening at 318 Johnson Road in Dryden. The Reach Out for Christ Church was kind enough to provide the building to hold the classroom sessions and construction phase of the weekend. Todi's pizza fueled the students while ASC Model Supply Co. fueled the solid rockets.

Civil Air Patrol Cadets from the South Central Group participate in graduation ceremonies on Sunday, March 18 at Tompkins Cortland Community College. Cadets from the Ithaca, Elmira, Binghamton and Oneonta squadrons, along with members from the Rochester Squadron, participated in the Cadet Rocketry Weekend, held at various locations in Dryden during the weekend of March 16-18.

There were three phases of building, each one named after real historical rockets from the NASA space program. In the Red Stone phase, cadets demonstrated how compressed gas can create lift. In the Titan phase, cadets used model kits to explain how rocket engines work, how lift needs to be controlled and guided, and how parachute recovery of the rockets allows for future use. The third and final stage is the Saturn phase, named after the famous rocket that took astronauts to the moon. It is the most difficult to complete.

The weather was a factor on Sunday, with bright sunshine and winds that made recovery rather difficult. TC3's parking lot hosted this launch phase. If you look closely at the trees nearest to the main entrance of the college you can see the fruits of the cadets' labors dangling in the breeze.

A graduation ceremony was held Sunday afternoon. The Dryden Youth Opportunity Fund provided a grant which helped finance the weekend.

For more information on the Civil Air Patrol in this area contact the squadron commander; e-mail This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , or mail 1st Lt. Patrick Sullivan at P. O. Box 4355 Ithaca, NY 14852.

Find out more about Civil Air Patrol at http://www.cap.gov/. CAP meetings are held at 7 p.m. Tuesday evenings in Barton Hall's Air Force ROTC corner on the Cornell University campus.

The program is open to both boys and girls ages 12 to 20 for cadets. Senior member/adult officer positions are available for those 21 and older.

Copyright © 2007, The Ithaca Journal.