Rockets 2019 Central Texas/Stonewall Launch Rides the Skies From a New Location, This Week

The Central Texas/Stonewall launch is third in the series for the Rockets 2019 season. This site has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.

The “Fredericksburg” launch is the original  and therefore the longest  operating launch in the program. The rocket class began in 1996  as Principes of Technology, with a single one pound/one mile rocket developed and launched from a trailer in Lady Bird Johnson Park in 1997. In 1998 they launched the first Transonic vehicle, and in 1999 the first launch at White Sands Missile Range was conducted.

In 2003 the formal program know then as Ignite and now as SystemsGo was created and shared with other schools.

In 2007, five schools joined Fredericksburg in launching 1 pound/1 mile and transonic rockets at a one day event at the Meek Ranch off of State Hwy 16 South of Fredericksburg. This was the programs first official expanded group launch site where it remained  through 2009 until necessity called for a new place away from a major highway.

In 2010 they moved to the Camey Stewart Ranch in Willow City where it remained for 9 years, closing its season there in 2018.  Now in 2019 it continues activities at a new location in Stonewall.

In past years the volume has grown  substantially.  In 2017,  87 rockets were tested in that one  4 day weekend at the Stewart Ranch.  Even with the addition of the Houston launch site in 2012, taking some of the roster, the Fredericksburg launch carried a heavy load.

In 2018 some Southeast Texas schools still coming to Fredericksburg were asked to participate in Houston to try to even the load further. In doing this, they added a third day to the Houston launch and decreased Fredericksburg’s launch from four days to three.

The Fredericksburg site covered the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools, as well as North Texas,  and West Texas schools. Now with the addition of Jal, New Mexico and the New North Texas launches, the Fredericksburg load has reduced by about 1/3. With the program growing, these numbers will also continue to grow, but now each site has a renewed potential for expanded volume.

Currently there are 48 rockets scheduled for launch by 21 schools at the new  Stonewall location for Rockets 2019. This schedule may be updated this week with the possibility of a few schools that were scheduled for the North Texas launch that could not make it, shifting to this launch. These will be tested at the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall.

Stages 1 and 2 will be at the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce building.  This is also a new location.   This testing site  now covers mostly the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools.

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with one more launch in May. The final launch of the junior level rockets will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas (the Southeast Texas/Smith Point launch) for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.

The senior groups are tentatively scheduled to launch their Goddard level rockets at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico in late June.  These are not available for public viewing or Livestream due to being tested on a military facility, but blog and SystemsGo updates will be posted online as available during that week. This will be the fifth launch sequence and will finalize the Rockets 2019 season.

All sites will be open to public viewing of launches except White Sands Missile Range. However, if you plan to attend any of these launches please register for your attendance ticket ahead of time or obtain them at the gate. These are free but required for admittance to each site as they also include a waiver for access to the site.  Reserving them ahead at the website is preferred to obtaining them at the gate because the latter slows entrance to the site and may result in you missing the viewing of your intended launch.

The Central Texas/Stonewall launch dates, locations, map links, ticket links, and schools are also listed here for your convenience or can be found at http://www.systemsgo.org/events/ .

Central Texas/Stonewall:

• Thursday, May 2 – Saturday, May 4
• New Launch Site: 2187 Double Horn Road, Stonewall, Texas 78671
  Stage 1 & 2 at Stonewall Chamber of Commerce: 250 Peach Street, Stonewall, TX 78671
• https://www.greateventseats.com/FBG-SystemsGo
• Central Texas-Stonewall 2019 Flight Schedule
• Google Map Link: https://goo.gl/maps/84VMTwMqFvy
  Directions (PDF)
• Schools participating: Fabens HS, Fredericksburg HS, Granger HS, Hamilton HS, Kingwood HS, Lampasas HS, LLano HS, Marble Falls HS, McGregor HS, Roosevelt HS, Summer Creek HS, Decatur HS, Georgetown HS, Kermit HS, Liberty Christian School, Terrell HS, Tom Moore Ingram HS, Union Grove HS, Victoria East HS
• 49 expected rockets for testing

The sites will be open for admittance at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m.  Of course rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch. Come join in the action and cheer on these students. Admission is free, but the look on your students’ faces when their vehicle goes up and then is recovered, is far from priceless.

A live feed for each launch will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedule links, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the events if information is available.

Please watch the SystemsGo website, SystemsGo Facebook page,  SystemsGo Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNews and this blog for upcoming information on theses events.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org . Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Hope to see you at the launches! #RideTheSkies #Texasrockettrail #Rockets2019