FORT WAYNE, Indiana USA — It all started with a model toy rocket. Three years and countless hours (and dollars) later, the Gross family has fueled their passion for sport rocketry, building their own models and traveling the country for launches.

Mike and Jenny Gross and son Brandon, 9, build and launch rockets. They belong to the Summit City Aerospace Modelers, one of the oldest rocketry clubs in the country. Photo: Cathie Rowand, The Journal Gazette.

The Executioner rocket, on which a mask was added, is part of their collection. Photo: Cathie Rowand, The Journal Gazette.

This is one of the smallest rockets in the Grosses’ rocket collection. Photo: Cathie Rowand, The Journal Gazette.

IF YOU GO:
Summit City Aerospace Modelers Rocket Launch
What: Sport launch and “make it and fly it” session
When: 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 26
Where: Kreager Park, North River Road
Admission: Free

There’s the beer bottle rocket, the fire hydrant, the monster mask.

All have their charms, but Mike Gross’ latest favorite is “Fat Albert,” a model that’s hand-painted with snakeskin detailing and sits in the rocket room in their home. It took Gross all winter to build.

There are dozens of others of all sizes, lining shelves. Some were fashioned from rocket kits, others made from scratch and a little ingenuity.

“I like building stuff from scratch. I go for the ‘wow’ factor. It makes a month of work worth it,” he says.

His beer-bottle rocket (in honor of his home-brewing hobby and featuring a label with his likeness) was featured in the March issue of Extreme Rocketry magazine.

“When I open the magazine and see that picture …,” he says.

“His head gets bigger,” his wife, Jenny Gross, finishes.

“I can barely get through that door,” he adds.

The couple and their son Brandon, 9, belong to Summit City Aerospace Modelers, one of the oldest rocketry clubs in the country. It was founded in 1971.

The club’s next launch is July 26 at Kreager Park.

As usual, the Gross family likely will take a dozen of their own to launch. There, all of the rockets will be lined up and launched one at a time.

Some of their previous events have been captured on DVD. With a loud propulsion noise, the rocket takes off from the ground, leaving an exhaust plume in its wake. (Their engines are launched electronically, with the launcher standing anywhere from 25 feet to one-eighth of a mile away.)

It’s all about the show: some owners add titanium flakes to the propellant to create sparks they call skid marks.

Colored smoke is also an option for added effect. The high-power rockets can travel thousands of feet into the air.

Launching a rocket that weighs a pound means the Federal Aviation Administration must be notified.

Rockets heavier than 3.3 pounds require a waiver from the FAA, Gross says, and the launcher must be at least 18 years old and certified by the National Association of Rocketry.

Launchers also check the sky before a liftoff; rockets must stay under any clouds.

The rockets land with the aid of parachutes – the one for Fat Albert is about 10 feet in size. Gross plans to launch it at a convention in Kansas this fall. (An annual Illinois launch had 800 launches and plenty of viewers.)

If the rockets can reach 10,000 feet altitude, the landing area (usually a field) must be at least 10,000 square feet.

Both father and son have watched at least one of their rockets literally crash and burn (including one on its maiden voyage), while Jenny Gross has managed to avoid that sad fate so far. But one of hers did land in a tree and sat there for months before it could be retrieved.

She is one of the few women involved with the club.

“I like the noise,” she says. “I like the skid marks.”

Copyright © 2008, The Journal Gazette.