PUEBLO, Colorado USA — All eyes were on the sky as model rockets were launched at a dedication event Saturday.

Wally and Sharon Stealey visit the model rocket launch site that was dedicated in their family name Saturday in honor of their deceased children. Photo: Nathan Papes, Pueblo Chieftan.

A rocket, weighing 30 pounds, standing almost 8 feet tall and powered by a special Skidmark engine, shoots toward the sky to a height of 6,000 feet during a launch Saturday at the Hudson Ranch site, west of Pueblo on Colorado 78. Photo: Nathan Papes, Pueblo Chieftan.

Wally and Sharon Stealey were on hand to watch the most powerful rocket the Southern Colorado Rocketeers have launched take off from the site they sponsored in memory of their late children, Michelle and Pat Stealey. Sharon Stealey said their donation of $35,000 allowed for gravel to be brought in so the site may be used year-round.

The club, which holds launchings about twice per month, also received assistance with the project from veterinarian Marvin Hamann and the Farmers Union, as well as site developers Jay Youngren, Boyd Rider and Kevin Fern.

According to rocketeers volunteer Ben Whitfield, the large launch site and the gravel are necessary when launching larger model rockets because the gravel helps prevent fires from starting and the vast space allows builders to retrieve their rockets so they can put them together and launch them again.

Many precautions have to be taken when the large rockets are launched. Jason Unwin, president of the rocketeers, said permission must be obtained from the Federal Aviation Administration to launch the high-powered rockets, and they are only used on the third Saturday of the month.

Also on hand was Brooke Trevithick, a 15-year-old former student of Roncalli Middle School who used an idea from her late uncle, Tom Duvall of New Hampshire, to solicit the donation of rockets so that children in a hospice grief program could write messages to be sent up in the rockets in honor of their loved ones.

Brooke and about 15 classmates built 35 rockets with the help of science instructors at Roncalli. She said not only did her peers get to do something to help others, they also learned about rocketry.

"It was really nice to do this for someone who is really going to appreciate it," Brooke said. "This is a way to communicate with someone who is not here, it's like sending a message by mailing it, but it's going up to heaven."

The rocketeers will donate rockets each year Brooke heads the project in memory of her uncle. Although she will be a freshman at Central High School this fall, Brooke said she plans to put the rockets together every year along with Roncalli science teachers and students. Only a couple of hospice children attended the launch to send their messages upward.

Many rockets were launched Saturday and although this was not a contest, Whitfield said Jason Chamberlain had successfully launched the highest powered rocket in Southern Colorado.

Southern Colorado Rocketeers: http://scronline.net/index.html

Copyright © 2008, The Pueblo Chieftan.

06-23-2008 01:43 PM  #1
Lawndartman Certified Level One   Joined: Mar 2007 Posts: 15	Re: Southern Colorado group dedicates model rocket site I am proud to call Ben, and the Jasons' my friends. I first met Ben a few years back at Hellfire in Utah. He told me of his plans for 'the ranch', I thought OK we will see... Well, they have done much more than those early plans. It is just a great place to launch.These guys don't write much in forums, they don't whine about the way things are, they go out and do somthing about it. Best wishes to the GANG! See ya soon, down at the ranch! Tim Thomas Giant Leap Rocketry

06-23-2008 02:20 PM  #2
denverdoc Rana sapiens   Joined: Aug 2007 Posts: 2815	Re: Southern Colorado group dedicates model rocket site It is a great place to launch and the improvements slated will only make it that much better. When I was down there, they even had a volunteer fireman on hand with his small truck to help with the sparkies. Now how is that for service?