Launch cancelled
February 6th, 2010 by mike
February 7th launch is cancelled due to weather! 
. Have fun digging out!
February 7th Launch
February 3rd, 2010 by mike
Folks,
The weather looks like it may not be cooperating for this Sunday’s launch. At this point I will give it a 50/50 chance for the launch to happen due to the expected snow and predicted winds. I will not be out of the country beginning today so I may not be able to update this site with the latest information.
Please contact Richard Gunther – CENJARS President prior to the launch to confirm if it is happening or not.
Rich can be reached via e-mail at:
glockumgunther@gmail.com
Also keep in mind we will NOT have a rain/snow date for the February launch.
There is a Family Rocket Build with the Radical Rocketeers scheduled for February 13th (see post below) as well as a scheduled launch after that build at North Branch Park (GSSS launch site) on February 27th.
Our next launch after the February one is March 7th at 1pm.
“Bang Zoom to the Moon” NOT!
February 2nd, 2010 by mike
NASA
Obama budget proposal scraps NASA’s back-to-the-moon program
By Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
The Obama administration is killing Constellation, NASA’s ambitious back-to-the moon program. The decision represents a thunderous demolition of the Bush-era strategy at the space agency, which had already poured $9 billion into a new rocket, the Ares 1, and a new crew capsule, Orion.
Both were years from completion. And now both have been spiked by the administration’s 2011 budget, released Monday. The budget includes $2.5 billion over the next two years to shut down Constellation.
Instead of continuing to develop the Ares 1 and Orion, the administration wants to invest $6 billion over five years in a commercial space taxi to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit. The budget would also funnel billions of dollars into developing new space technologies, such as the ability to refuel spacecraft in orbit. What isn’t in the budget is a specific target for exploration.
Change does not come easily in the complex and highly political enterprise that is space travel. The Obama plan triggered immediate protests on Capitol Hill.
“The president’s proposed NASA budget begins the death march for the future of U.S. human spaceflight,” Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) said Monday. “If this budget is enacted, NASA will no longer be an agency of innovation and hard science. It will be the agency of pipe dreams and fairy tales.”
Rep. Pete Olson (R-Tex.) said, “This is a crippling blow to America’s human spaceflight program.”
But Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), whose state stands to lose 7,000 jobs when the space shuttle program ends next year, signaled that he will not fight to keep Constellation alive: “When the president says he’s going to cancel Constellation, I can tell you that to muster the votes and overcome that is going to be very, very difficult.”
The change in course is hardly shocking given the events of the past year. Obama appointed a committee, led by retired aerospace executive Norman Augustine, to examine options for human spaceflight. The Augustine panel saw no chance that Constellation could succeed in its goal of a 2020 moon landing.
Administrator Charles Bolden said Monday that NASA will pursue technology that will enable astronauts to explore the solar system.
“Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year,” Bolden said.
Elon Musk, founder and chief executive of SpaceX, a company that could bid on a commercial contract to launch astronauts, said the administration was being realistic in its cancellation of Constellation.
“There is no way there’s the appetite for another Apollo-like program with Apollo-like budget expenditures,” Musk said.
Next Launch
January 29th, 2010 by mike
Folks,
Our next launch date is February 7th at 1pm at the 18th Avenue location in Wall Township, NJ.
This launch will be run by our new club president Richard Gunther.
Their will be no rain date for February’s launch.
Our next club launch after February is March 7th.
There will be another launch in February following the rocket build (see Family Rocket Build post below) on Feb 27th with Radical Rocketeers at North Branch Park.
National Air and Space Museum
January 25th, 2010 by mike
The National Air and Space Museum on the Mall and at the annex have different tours available. The direct link is http://www.nasm.si.edu/education/schoolgroups/tours.cfm. There are plenty of hotels around the annex and of course in DC. Hotels in DC run about $200 per night and the ones in Virginia run about $100 per night. On the NASM site, there are hotels suggested. It might be a great educational trip to take during the winter or spring breaks with your children.
