My Reasons for Rocketry

My wife recognizes that I change hobbies like some people change underwear.  Since high school I have gone through cycling, lacrosse, tennis, Star Wars collecting, comic books, Dungeons&Dragons, Magic The Gathering, Taekwondo, Historic European Martial Arts, hunting, Warhammer 40k, airsoft, baseball, hockey, and model rocketry (I'm sure I forgot a few.)  Most recently I've been involved with Historic European Martial Arts (HEMA) and airsoft.  I still love both and even have a dedicated group of home-schoolers that I teach twice a week.  HEMA will not be abandoned.  But airsoft has proven problematic lately.  The unfortunate thing is that I recently hooked up with a team (Echo Company at ETSU) and was hoping to play more often now that graduate school is done and my wife has a little bit more free time since it's summer.  I'm not ready to sell my gear (especially that sweet sniper rifle) but spending the better part of a Saturday away from the family has become a bit of an undue strain.  My fantastic wife recognizes that we each need to have time to do things on our own, but the kids aren't as forgiving.
My son is about to turn five and is showing interest in the same sorts of things that I like.  We frequently watch Star Wars related stuff and play with the toys.  He likes swords and learning about knights, and he's turning into a fierce grappeler as well.  But he's too young to be allowed onto the airsoft field, and will be so for some years.  So I thought about what sorts of things I could do as an outlet independent of my budding academic career that I could involve him in to a certain degree.  Model Rocketry seemed like the most viable option.

I already have the necessary field equipment from my last foray back into the hobby when the boy was a baby.  I built and flew many rockets when I was growing up, so I already have a knowledge base enough to be able to teach him and be able to figure things out for myself if need be.  I have two Estes launch pads and controllers that allow me to launch anything up to E engines.  With my other recent model building experience in Warhammer 40k I've developed better skills with paints than I ever had in high school.  What I didn't have was rockets or a place to launch them.

It's MUCH cheaper than airsoft.  Even the most complicated kits rarely exceed $30 with most being in the $20 range.  The most expensive kit I've ever seen was the Saturn V from Apogee Components that's still not $300.  $300 can get you a passable airsoft gun that will still need some upgrades (although I'm not likely to lose an airsoft gun in a tree.)  Most of the single-use engines that I plan to use are less than $5 each.  The price has increased significantly in recent years, but I can still get a lot of launches out of $20 if I stick to the small stuff, especially the 13mm engines.

Although I'm at the mercy of the weather even more than with airsoft I still have something I can do that is hobby related if we can't launch.  I can build or go to the hobby store.  Either of these are things that my son and I can do together, although taking him into any store is getting to become more and more of something to be avoided unless he can buy something. (Although he thankfully doesn't have nearly the meltdown that I've seen some kids have.)  But going to the park where I've gotten permission to launch is the real payoff.  We can either have a boys' outing or take Mommy and baby sister along.  Being that there's a playground nearby makes it all the better for a family outing.

Two weeks ago was the first time I took him to launch.  It was quite a walk to the field because I wasn't entirely sure of the best route.  He was pretty tired by the time we got there and was asking to go back to the car even as I was setting up the launchpad.  But once the first rocket went up he was hooked.  That outing was followed by a trip to the Smithsonian Air&Space museums (yes, both of them!) when we accompanied Mommy on a work related trip to Maryland.

We'll see how his model building skills develop.  With many of the current crop of kits using stickers instead of water-slide decals he has something that is within his grasp.  He has done a bit of gluing with white glue too.  On our trip we stopped by a hobby shop and he picked out his "pencil rocket", the Estes Sky Writer.  I really wanted him to get a lower altitude kit, but it is something that he can do with supervision.  Hopefully I can get access to some land with enough open area to launch it.

So I've embarked on yet another shift in hobbies.  But this time I think that the shift will be better for my son both in being something that excites his imagination, makes use of science and math, and gets us together to do something will hopefully become "ours".  It'll also keep me around more which should make Mommy happier.  When you have a family you have to make choices that accommodate more than your selfish desires and concerns.  We should all do the occasional activity that makes us happy or clears our head, but too much causes strains in the most important relationships that we have, those with our spouses and children.

This blog is going to run the gamut of rocketry related topics.  Topics likely to come up in addition to build and launch reports will be land access, rocketry with kids, science education, and history.  I recently completed my MA in History (albeit with a focus on Early Modern Europe) so I'm going to try to include some book reviews at the very least if not a full-fledged study of some sort.  Right now I'm working on a book about Robert Goddard that looks to be quite good so far.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Ignition sequence start!