Rocketry Planet

CEDAR GROVE, Queensland, AU — Last year, Ari Piirainen switched on his car radio to hear the hit 1980s song The Final Countdown, just moments after launching his first model rocket.

There could not have been a better omen for Kuraby’s very own "rocket man".

Powerful fun... Ari Piirainen loves his hobby.

Enthralled by space travel from an early age, his love of rockets took a back seat during much of his adult life. However, it was reignited in January 2007 after watching the film October Sky.

Based on a memoir by Homer Hickam, the film tells the story of Hickam’s struggle to break out of his childhood spent in a tough US mining town to become a NASA rocket scientist.

Mr Piirainen has since become an avid model rocket enthusiast.

He has built 19 of the craft, including a 3m high-powered giant he keeps in his living room, and takes on various roles with the Queensland Rocketry Society.

"The first thing I say when I see it go up is 'wow'. I get a buzz every time," he said. "I think the little boy in me comes out because you can see it go up towards space."

Anyone is welcome to attend the society’s next public launch day at Cedar Grove, near Jimboomba, on November 9 from 8am.

"Everybody who comes in will get a free raffle ticket and every half an hour someone from the public will get to launch a rocket with an experienced operator," Mr Piirainen said.

Launches are conducted under strict Civil Aviation Safety Authority guidelines.

Visit http://www.qldrocketry.com/ or phone 0412650682.