The July/August issue of LAUNCH is scheduled for release later this month.

NEW YORK CITY, New York USA — The July/August issue of LAUNCH is scheduled for release later this month—and includes the magazine's most comprehensive coverage yet of space and rocketry in a single issue. Among the 88-page issue's 17 articles and columns: In-depth coverage of two major rocketry events—the National Sport Launch and the Team America Rocketry Challenge.

Also in the issue: A major update on the Mars rover program; a first look at the (Seattle) Museum of Flight's new exhibit on model rocketry; a record-breaking simultaneous rocket launch in Texas; a look back to 1957's Redstone rocket exhibition in Manhattan's Grand Central Terminal; NASA's Regolith Excavation Challenge; a feature on a top-secret Navy missile program in the 1940s—and the debut of a new column from former astronaut Walter Cunningham. The issue also includes Mario Perdue's how-to-build report on the "Space Twins"-updated versions of the Laser-X and Mars Snooper rockets.

"This issue reflects our commitment to both spaceflight and hobby rocketry," says LAUNCH Editor-in-Chief Mark Mayfield. "While we are gaining a national audience with our spaceflight coverage, we're also devoting half of the issue to low, mid and high power hobby rocketry. The result is that we're introducing the hobby to an entirely new audience. This issue, with great coverage from the National Sport Launch and the Team America Rocketry Challenge, is very much a celebration of the hobby."

The National Sport Launch report includes two major articles—a first-hand report from the event director, Mario Perdue, and the inside story of the launch of a 6X upscaled A.C.M.E. Spitfire from Joe Isca, a member of the team that built and successfully flew the high-powered rocket. Both articles include outstanding photography presented with the industry's highest magazine production values.

Since the debut issue last August with the September/October 2006 issue, LAUNCH has not only gained a growing national audience, it has also been a sponsor at many spaceflight and hobby rocketry shows across the nation. Copies of the magazine were distributed in all 2,500 registration bags at the National Space Symposium in Colorado earlier this year, and more than 1,000 issues were distributed at the International Space Development Conference recently in Dallas. Coverage of the ISDC appears in the July/August issue.

LAUNCH has also agreed to become the sole sponsor of a 3,500-square-foot, air-conditioned tent for vendors at the Tripoli Rocketry Association's LDRS 26 in Nevada in July. The magazine is also among the sponsors at the National Association of Rocketry's annual meet (NARAM-49) in Michigan.

"It's been a great first year," says Mayfield. "I want to thank all the readers who have been with us since the beginning, and also a huge thanks to the advertisers who support us with their dollars and their influence."

LAUNCH is available at Barnes & Noble and Borders stores nationwide, and at hobby shops throughout the country. The July/August issue goes on sale later this month.

For more info, visit http://www.launchmagonline.com/.