Rockets 2019 New North Texas Launch Site, Friday Launches

Today was the first day for  the new venue in North Texas  at Jack County as part of the SystemsGo Rockets 2019 program.  Seven schools attempted 22 rockets of which all rockets left the pad  successfully. A few of the later day Transonics took a couple of attempts but did accomplish lift off. It was a great first launch day in Jack County.

It was a long day. the first rocket didn’t launch until 11:30 and the last was 8:30. The crew was really beat but proud to say they got them all off the rails. University High School with started the flights with 6 of their 7 vehicles completing the whole first volley. Buinger and Hollenstein High Schools ended the day with their Transonics.

Tomorrow the schedule shows 6 schools and 16 rockets. There may be 17 as a late school may have been added.

All  the vehicles except about 8 were recovered for the day. Hopefully these will be found along with tomorrow’s line up. Team 1 is proud to report that we found six ourselves. Admittedly though they were a lot further and required a lot more hiking than  we had planned.

George Burns provided a shuttle service from the spectator parking to the site today and will again tomorrow. He brought up one of his 290 Wine Tours buses to transport people back and forth.

Pictures are from the progress at the site to this point are on SystemsGo Facebook page, as well as my Facebook page. They can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Restrooms and concessions will be provided at the launch site. A spectator tent will also be available. Please remember sunscreen, chairs, umbrellas, extra snacks and drinks,

The launch site is in Jacksboro area, while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin.

Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

Admittance for public viewing  begins at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m. if all goes right. Today didn’t follow that schedule pre-set schedule well at all. 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.

If you plan to attend 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. that must be signed. 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 link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

The  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/ .

North Texas/Jack County:

If you follow this program join us again tomorrow for Rockets 2019 Day 2 in Jacksboro.

A link for the live feed for this launch is available at www.systemsgo.org  for each day.

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!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 New North Texas Launch Site, Wednesday/Thursday Set Up

The SystemsGo team and volunteers spent Wednesday evening and all day Thursday at the brand new venue in North Texas at Jack County. They were readying both the launch site in the Jacksboro area and check out stations for stages 1 and 2, at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin, to be complete for the arrival of schools, students, and test vehicles for the Rockets 2019 launch line up.  Tomorrow, Friday,  is opening day for  this new Texas launch site for the junior level rockets.

Excitement is high as the team worked hard to be sure everything would be ready to accept all participants and their rockets promptly tomorrow morning. The new site will have six launch rails ready to send Rockets out to #RideTheSkies.

The team and volunteers have worked hard and had a lot of fun getting ready to host the students. A special thanks is extended to Mr. Buck Brown and his family for the use of their ranches this weekend. A few of us were able to meet him and his brother, Barry Brown,  this evening, while installing signs at the public parking area.

Names as pictured: Buck Brown, Scott Netherland, and Barry Brown(in truck).

Another thank you is extended to the Sid W. Richardson Foundation that is SystemsGo’s sponsor in this endeavor. We hope to meet a representative of them tomorrow at the launches.

Pictures are from the progress at the site to this point are on SystemsGo Facebook page, as well as my Facebook page. They can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/SystemsGoEducation/

https://www.facebook.com/ginger.burow

Restrooms and concessions will be provided at the launch site. A spectator tent will also be available. Please remember sunscreen, chairs, umbrellas, extra snacks and drinks, and downtime entertainment.

Patience may be in order if you plan to view launches here, since occasionally there can be small kinks to work out at a new location.  Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

Mr. Brett Williams, the program’s originator, used to say that it took a million things to go right to get these rockets to launch, and only one thing going wrong to prevent them from launching.

Jacksboro is the first Texas launch for the Rockets 2019 season. It will be followed by launches in  Central Texas/Stonewall, and Southeast Texas/Smith Point, Texas. It follows the SystemsGo New Mexico launch, which was last week in Jal, New Mexico.

North Texas/Jack County, is hosting 12 schools, slated to test 39 rockets Friday and Saturday. In past years many of these schools launched at the Central Texas launch, formerly held in Willow City, north of Fredericksburg. This new venue gives them a launch site much closer to their schools.

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

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

The site will be open for admittance and public viewing at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m.  all things willing. 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.

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 link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with two  more launches in May. The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Look for more details on that  coming up. The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.

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!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Season Boasts a Successful Start at Jal, New Mexico Last Week!!!

The Rockets 2019 Season kicked off last week with a thrilling launch series in Jal, New Mexico. According to reports from SystemsGo Program Director, Rebekah Hyatt and SystemsGo New Mexico head, Dave willden, 32 rockets sailed the skies over New Mexico, successfully.

“It was an exciting start to the SystemsGo Rockets 2019 season!” -Rebekah Hyatt.

Many volunteers joined Willden and his staff, Kelley Alsup, Naira Mendoza and Christine Hendershot –  of the PVREC #8  to coordinate and carry out this outstanding event.

Superintendent, Brian Snider, and Pricipal, Elaine O’Neal graciously loaned the use of their schools for Stage 1 and 2, to which SystemsGo would like to extend a special thanks.

SystemsGo New Mexico is continuing to grow, so keep your “Eyes to the Skies” for next year’s rocket event.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range ,   also in New Mexico, completing the Rockets 2019 season.

If you follow this program Rockets 2019  will continue with three  more launches in April and May. Next the brand new site in Jack County in North Texas will be the place to be. Followed by the Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch which will be at the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  And last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas.

A live feed for each of these three launches 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! #RideThe Skies!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Expands Again Adding the New North Texas Launch Site, Launches Commence Next Week

The SystemsGo program added a brand new venue in North Texas  at Jack County to the  Rockets 2019 launch line up.  This is now the third Texas launch site for the junior level rockets.   As the number of schools in Texas is increasing over the years, this venue was added to deflect some of the load from the Central Texas and Southeast Texas launches. There are currently 51 schools participating in the three Texas launches, with a total this year of 145 rockets.

Having this new site has allowed the load to be distributed by region to a more manageable number for each. This year that division is as follows:

  • North Texas/Jack County– 12 schools – 39 rockets
  • Central Texas/Stonewall– 22 schools – 49 rockets
  • Southeast Texas/Smith Point– 17 schools – 57 rockets

North Texas is the second launch in the 2019 series, preceded by the Jal, New Mexico launch, and followed  next by  Central Texas/Stonewall and Southeast Texas/Smith Point.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, completing the fifth launch and finalizing the 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 link is listed in the information above or can be found at www.sytemsgo.org .

This new launch site is in Jacksboro area, while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin. Patience may be in order if you plan to view launches here, since occasionally there can be small kinks to work out at a new location.  Patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles, as they don’t adhere to schedules well.  In fact, rockets are subject to winds, weather and workmanship, all of which can stall a launch.

The sites will be open for admittance at 8:00 a.m. and launches will commence at 8:30 a.m. 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.

The  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/ .

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with two  more launches in May. The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Look for more details on that  coming up. The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.

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

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.

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!

 

 

 

Rockets 2019 Blasts Off 5 Times this Season, Begining at Jal, New Mexico Next Week!!!

The  2019 Rocket season is boasting five launches this year! The SystemsGo program added a brand new venue in North Texas as well as a new location for the original Central Texas launch, making three Texas launches and one New Mexico launch for the Tsiolkovsky and Oberth levels. The fifth and final launch for the season is the Goddard level at White Sands Missile Range, in New Mexico.

The current rosters list 13 schools participating in the Jal, New Mexico launch,  where they will be testing 33 rockets. This is the third year for this venue and already they are outfitted with their own staff and volunteers. Fredericksburg Program Staff will still be there to help and oversee operations. Their numbers in both schools and rockets has greatly increased since their first season. They began with 6 schools and 10 rockets, only testing Tsiolkovsky vehicles. Now they test both Tsiolkovsky and Oberth level vehicles, and  have doubled the amount of participating schools and more than tripled the rocket numbers.

With 13 schools launching in Jal, and a total of 51 schools in the three Texas launches, that brings the grand total of schools to 64. Add testing 145 rockets at the Texas launches to Jal’s 33 and 178 rockets will #RideTheSkies for this 2019 Rocket season.

Later in the summer, eight Texas schools are currently on the roster to attempt a possible 10 rockets at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, completing the fifth launch and finalizing the season.

SystemsGo New Mexico does have a twitter feed  in order to follow the launches. The link is still live, but right now there are no current tweets.  That link is https://twitter.com/SystemsGoNM

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  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/ .

Jal, New Mexico:

North Texas/Jack County:

  • Friday, April 26-Saturday, April 27
  • New Launch Site: FM 2210 W and Gowan Ranch Lane, Jacksboro, TX 76458
    Stage 1 & 2 at Perrin VFD: 2210 W Hackley Street, Perrin, TX 76486
  • https://www.greateventseats.com/NthTexas
  • North Texas-Jack County 2019 Flight Schedule
  • Map to Sites (PDF)
  • Schools participating: Buinger CTE Academy, Carroll HS, Henrietta HS, Hollenstein CTC, Scurry-Rosser HS, University HS, Birdville CTAL, Grapevine HS, Maypearl HS, Northwest HS, Petrolia HS, RL Turner HS
  • 39 expected rockets for testing

Central Texas/Stonewall:

Southeast Texas/Smith Point

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.

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2019  will continue with three  more launches in April and May. Next the brand new site in Jack County in North Texas will be the place to be. The launch site is in Jacksboro while Stages 1 and 2 are at the Fire Department in nearby Perrin. Patience may be in order if you are watching here, since occasionally  there can be small kinks to work out at a new location. Of course as those of you know that have watched before, patience is a normal requirement with test vehicles.  39 rockets will be tested by 12 schools at this new site this year.

The Central Texas/Fredericksburg launch site  will be third in the line up this year. It has moved from Willow City to the Sammy Segner Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  Stages 1 and 2 will be at the Stonewall Chamber of Commerce building.  This is a new location for this launch as well, but hopefully it will continue to run smoothly (as smooth as this kind of thing does anyway) since it is the same basic crew and volunteers, with a few new volunteers too, but just in a new place.  This testing site covers mostly the Fredericksburg and Hill Country area schools. Currently there are 49 rockets scheduled for launch by 22 schools at this location.

The last of the junior level launches will be held in Smith Point just south of Anahuac, Texas for schools in the Houston  and Southeast Texas area.   Currently  57 vehicles are scheduled for testing by 17 schools at this site.  This location is in its third year for that area. Information and a map links are available.

A live feed for each launch, except Jal, New Mexico, will be provided and will be available at www.systemsgo.org as each launch date arrives.

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.

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!

 

 

 

Rockets 2018 Continues with Launches at Smith Point in Anahuac, Houston Area

The SystemsGo team is headed to Smith Point, near Anahuac, Texas down in  the Houston area, in shifts this week, depending on necessity and availability. The first group, consisting of Gene Garrett, Rebekah Hyatt and Scott Netherland are leaving today, Wednesday since they have meetings to attend to coordinate contractors, vendors, and volunteers for the event.

Here are the team members listed above ready to leave for Houston today. 

Here the group is getting equipment ready to roll out. 

The rest of the team, Andrew Matthes, Patrick Miller, Justin Junell, Gary Hyatt, Phil Houseal and Christy Glass, leave Thursday morning and the last set, Chelsea Burow and Steve Burow leave that afternoon.  This is the second year at this location for the Houston are launches.

The team will be setting up the launch site, and readying everything for an early start, as launches begin Friday, May 11,  and continue through Sunday, May 13.  This is new for this year as they have expanded to three days in this venue whereas last year it was two days. This is in conjunction with Fredericksburg launches cutting from originally four days to three. This was designed to help distribute the schools more evenly and encourage some  Houston area schools still coming to Willow City to move to the Houston launch.

Launches will continue all day Saturday, and Sunday with a total of 15 schools launching a total of 56 rockets for the weekend. After completion of launches on Sunday, the team will be packing up the site and returning home.

The current launch schedule for Friday is shown below and may also be downloaded from SystemsGo website at the following address: http://www.systemsgo.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/2018-Houston-Flight-Schedule-4-17-18.pdf

Friday, May 11, 2018
School Name / Teacher 1/1 Trans
Brazosport HS
Chris McLeod
1
Carroll HS
Chris Patino
2
Pasadena Memorial HS
Kyle Jurek
6 2
South Houston HS
Kevin Herron
4 5
 UTSA
Prinzton Flores
 1
Schools Launching        5
Totals 13 8
Total Rockets 21

Please note that the schedule here does not reflect a launching order, only schools slated to participate for that day, and the number of vehicles being attempted.

As a reminder, since there is public access to this event, there are registration tickets for order and those may be found on the SystemsGo website as well at this  link:  https://www.greateventseats.com/SystemsGo . They are FREE, but REQUIRED. There is a waiver for admission you will sign along with your admittance ticket. You can get them at the gate but it is strongly advised to do this online ahead of time so that you do not slow yourself or anyone else down getting onto the range. This could cause you and others to miss your intended launches.

I will post each days schedules in this blog. They can also be found in original format on the SystemsGo website Events page.

More event details will be available here after the completion of Friday’s event.

If you follow this program and like to view the launches, Rockets 2018  will have Livestream available at the Smith Point launches so you will be able to view them online at the following address: https://livestream.com/systemsgo.

If you have been to the Houston area launches in the past you may want to check out the SystemsGo website for information because this location is only in its second year for that area. Information and a map link are available.

More event details will be available here in upcoming days as events get closer. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will be posted during the 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!  #RideTheSky! #Launcher01 #ItISrocketScience #Rockets2018

I would like to  wish all the schools and students a picture perfect flight and recovery.