9/15/07 Birthday Launch & Mad Science @ Rushing Park

[dwmzmm]

Several months ago, I was contacted by a young lady who was looking for help in locating &
securing a launch site for her son's birthday party here in the Katy, TX area. Her son and
his dad wanted to use model rocketry & space as a theme for the party. As a treat, a presentation by Mad Science followed by some model rocket launchings would be the highlight of the celebration.

The party was held yesterday and was a total success. Here, I'll present the pictures taken
of the Mad Science presentation and the model rocket launchings. The Mad Science started
at 10 AM in the morning at the only pavilion at Rushing Park:

The birthday was for Trey Sims (kid putting on the white overcoat). The Mad Scientist started off by building a quick kit in front of the crowd, explaining the various components
and their importance in model rocketry.

[dwmzmm]

Mad Science presentation continues. Mad Scientist really has the kids attention. He would
make an EXCELLENT teacher!

[dwmzmm]

Here, the kids get a demonstration on how to get a boiled egg inside a glass flask (I'd never
seen this done before, believe it or not).

By this time, the presentation had gone for over an hour and it was time to launch the
model rocket that was assembled at the start of the presentation. We went out to the
middle of the field and set up the launcher; the kids were given a safety overview as the
model was prepared for launch.

[dwmzmm]

A successful launch (preceeded by a shorted clip) ensued and we then headed to the middle of the parking lot to set up our own launch pads and fly our own models. Mr. Sims and Joanna Sims had furnished about a dozen Alpha - III's so every kid could have a rocket to
launch.

I flew my son's (Davey) No.2 Skywriter (modified, the long black/white rocket) on a C6-5 to
guage the wind direction and speed, as the wind was blowing to the west at 10 mph. Followed this with the launch of my Estes Blue Ninja on a D12-3 for a nice flight. The various
Alpha - III's were flown with anything from an A8-3 to B6-4's; all flew very well. Mr. Sims,
Trey's father, I had learned, had been in model rocketry himself since he was a kid and still
loves to engage the hobby today.

[dwmzmm]

Mr. Sims is the gentleman you see in the second picture. I followed the launch of my Blue
Ninja with an excellent flight of the Hawks Hobby Super Mark on a D12-5, which probably went the highest altitude (along with the No. 2 Skywriter) of the day. The Super Mark landed
almost to the very edge of the park boundary on the western side; my son complained about
the "work" of having to go so far to recover it.

My final flight was the PDRocketry's Alien Explorer, which was going up on its second flight
on a C6-5. Really great flight, except it parachuted down on the parking lot near the pavilion
on the western side and then the still blowing wind started to drag it across the parking lot!
I had to run fast to catch up with it to prevent any further damage; the decals on one ion
pod got scraped off. And I accidentally broke off one antenna assembly at the model's midsection when I moved my hand toward the top of the model to grab the parachute, which
was still deployed in the blowing wind.

After a few more Alpha - III flights and one Astrocam launch, we broke down and headed to
a pizza buffet lunch down at a restaurant in the Cinco Ranch area in Katy.

[JRThro]

Sounds like it went great, Dave! I wish I could have committed to attending that launch, but oh well. Mad Science is always a lot of fun to see, too.

[dwmzmm]

Sounds like it went great, Dave! I wish I could have committed to attending that launch, but oh well. Mad Science is always a lot of fun to see, too.

Thanks, John. Hang in there, because we may have more events similar to this headed our
way. The key here is to seize the initiative when the opportunity arises as there are people
who need our help. I can't emphasize how educational and fun it was Saturday, and it was
a real pleasure to meet new people and make new friends. I have the feeling we'll be seeing
the Sims family at future launches....