Tag: Ginger Burow

Day 20-Rocket Recovery Teams

What would a rocket launch be without a bunch of crazy, fun-loving, competitive people willing to trompe through water, mud, trees, tall grass, and thick underbrush in order to see who can recover the most rockets and bring them back to smiling students? And let’s not forget encounter, pigs, snakes, ants, wasps, bees, chiggers, mosquitos, cows, cup eating donkeys, and any manor of small animals that run out from under foot unexpectedly.

This crews hardest job, is not locating and recovering the rockets, but instead getting the compass to give an accurate azimuth, (sometimes they stick), and inputting the coordinates in the Garman in time to beat the other team to the location.

Finding the rockets depends a lot on good coordinates, a good sense of direction, good eye balling of where you saw it go down, and a whole lot of pure luck.

A perfect launch and recovery deployment can put the vehicle almost back in easy distance and sight to find. On the other hand a high altitude deployment can carry the rocket for a long time, making what  looks like right over there, end up to be a few pastures over, which entails a whole lot of walking and searching. And of course a ballistic landing means searching and digging.

No matter the circumstances, each rocket is a valuable learning tool for each class, and the ultimate goal of these teams is to recover all of it they can, and return it to those students.

Quite honestly, the recovery teams, probably have the most fun, and least stressful job of the group. Most of them are repeat crew members from year to year and wouldn’t miss it given the chance.

They all work closely with the Rocket Cops Crew, who also lend their ears, eyes, and communications to the teams on the ground. Officer Braxton Roemer coordinates the recovery teams.

This years’ teams included: Team 1, Jeff and Tina Landis; Team 2, Jerry and Judith Luckenbach; Team 3, Barry and Ann Bradley; Team 4, Steve and Ginger Burow; Team 5, Todd and Troy Kneese; Team 6, Guy Chadwick, Brett Burow, and Brittany Beisert ; Team 7, Freddie Kruse. There was also a 3 person team from Alpha Search and Recovery out of Houston that was here to observe, and helped in place of Team 7 on Sunday.

This group works and plays hard the whole weekend. They love to have fun while out there searching and recovering rockets. They are each here because they want to help SystemsGo and the students be successful and they all take that very seriously.

Thank you recovery teams for being a vital and important part of the project. This year this group had 97% recovery rate for all the rockets launched. Congratulations and thank you all for all your hard work.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 19-Keeping Rockets Live

Three people devote their time out at these launches, to keeping Rockets live. They even have a trailer out there that houses a broadcasting “mission control” to ensure that all live streaming and uplinks stay active.

Zack Pooser is the main force behind allowing internet communications to go out on live streaming to everyone with a desire to watch that cannot be there. His broadcasting control trailer keeps the launch site connected.

Phil Houseal provides daily interviews with staff, students, visitors, Embry Riddle University reps, and volunteers, giving short insights to those watching as to how this program works, who is involved in it and why. He catches the stories behind the scenes that might not otherwise be heard or told about each type of experience and involvement for those in the program in one way or another.

Joyce Bk Abbey is the voice of rockets. She is the voice everyone hears commanding the attention of spectators before, during and after each launch, whether on site or watching on Livestream. She engages the students as they wait and watch for their vehicle to lift off and be recovered.

This crew of individuals is responsible for keeping rockets open for all to see during these launch weekends. They do a wonderful job of sharing this experience with everyone. They are rockets’ broadcasting extraordinaire.

Thank you all for all your hard work. 

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

 

Day 18-Stage 1 & 2-Flight Readiness Crew

Today I want to continue my series of thank yous for all those that helped with the SystemsGo Rockets 2015 launches. I still have a few groups to send these out to, so bear with me, I am trying not to leave anyone out. Each and every participant, is a vital necessity to keeping the program operating to the best possible potential.

The crew in the spot light today, is the group that each school’s students meet up with first. This group sets up shop at the Willow City Fire Station, and the Willow City School and Community Center.

This is where the work begins to qualify each vehicle for flight. Small repairs that are needed and can still be made at this point in order to prepare it for flight are also done here.

The crews at Stage 1 and 2 have the responsibility of determining if the vehicle can be tested safely, and if it is completely ready. They have to determine if the guidelines and specifications given to the classes ahead of time have been met correctly. They do this by following a check list called the “Flight Readiness Review.”

Each vehicle must pass this set of checks and balances to be approved to move on to Stage 3 and ultimately to the launch pad. This crew also has the occasional unpleasant job of having to inform a group that a vehicle has been declined for flight due to simply not being ready or that it has some factor that has caused it to be deemed unsafe to fly at this time.

This doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. They try their best to help and correct whatever can be corrected, so that all vehicles will get their opportunity to fly. They never want to disappoint the students, these guys want more than anything to help and see everyone get to a successful test. But, safety and readiness have to come first.

They probably have one of the hardest and sometimes unpopular positions there, but at the same time it is very rewarding for them when the can safely approve the rockets for the next stage. When all the rockets for the day have moved past Stage 1 and 2, then this crew comes to mission control to see where they can further assist the group for the rest of the day.

They have a long day because they usually have schools waiting as early as 5:00 in the morning to have their rockets checked.

This group really deserves a big thank you for all they do. This year’s Stage 1 and 2 operatives were, Captain Gene Garrett, Doug Kimball, Pete Jenson, Harold Vanick, David Miller, and Danny Bell. Great job, gentlemen on another successful year.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 17-Hill Country Flooding

Ok, a short change of subject for today. I still have some thank yous to throw out there for rockets, but we have another subject for today.

How about that rain? Facebook is literally “flooded” with pictures and videos of flooding from all the rain this evening. It looks as though, as usual, Gillespie county has been mostly spared.

Comfort has reported at least 5+ inches and the Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek are flooding. Videos show the bridge coming into town off I-10 crossing the junction where the river and Cypress Creek meet and it is well past flood stage. Comfort has multiple outages and CTEC crews have been in the area since around 2:00 this afternoon.

Boerne has reported flooding in town, along Flat Rock Creek, and River Road. One video even showed a small car being swept away and rolling over at Tapatio in Boerne. No report on the outcome of the folks in that car.

The Blanco River in Blanco is encroaching on houses on the banks and well as the river bridge on 281. A flood emergency has been issued for  areas along the banks of this river in the Wimberly. This area  has been designated devastating and life-threatening and residents in this area have been advised to seek higher ground. This river is now 17 feet above flood stage.

The Llano River is flooding over the dam in Llano. Kingsland’s Slab road is well out of its banks and over the bridge. Lake Marble Falls is above flood stage and downstream as at Starke Dam the flood gates have been opened to allow release for the first time in quite a long while.

The Pedernales at Johnson City is at dangerous levels as well and is best avoided.

Rain has been falling for several hours and accumulation reports vary from one to as much as 8 inches in some areas. Most creeks, rivers and streams are affected and caution needs to be exercised when out driving. The ground in most areas is already saturated and run off will continue as rain continues. The first and larger band of storms is passing to the east, but another line is forming and moving this way. Storms are expected to begin again during the overnight. Because the ground is already wet more flooding can and most likely will occur.

The Weather Service has extended the Flood Warning for Blanco and Gillespie County until 6:15 Sunday morning.

Day 16- Stage 3/ Mission Control Crews

Stage 3 and Mission Control are located under a big tent on the main site on Hillview Ranch. Stage 3 is  where all vehicles receive their last  readiness check and flight approval as well as where deployment charges, and GPS units are added. This is the last step before the student engineers take the vehicle to the pad for testing.

Mission Control is located at the pad side of the same tent. This crew controls the electrical system that ignites each vehicle after it has gone to the pad, become vertical on the rail, and completed fill. They coordinate all radio communications for recovery, traffic, the pad, and stages 1 and 2. Mapping coordinates for locating  and recovering the rockets, watching weather, communicating with the FAA, and NASA, and tracking GPS all happen from here as well.

This group of individuals is SystemsGo’s version of the NASA flight control room. It is the vital heart beat of the project. Most of the crew consists of engineers, retired military, computer experts, teachers and SystemsGo personnel. Without these crew members to complete and run operations not one rocket would be able to test. Thanking them for all their hard work, doesn’t even seem ample, they are so important to the making this whole project fly and work together so smoothly and efficiently. Great job crew you are definitely the boss!

Crew member for this outstanding group for Rockets 2015 included Scott Netherland, Robert Dever, Brett Williams, Randy Kuhlmann, Margaret Williams, Jody Kneese, Molly Williams, Austin Walter, and those whose last names escape me, Randy’s friend, Nick, Margaret’s friend, Cody, Jessica, and Patrick.

Because I hate to publish this without all the surnames and regret doing so; I have contacted a few people and asked and had no luck;  I am asking that whomever reads this and knows those names, either comment with the names or PM me on Facebook and I will update the blog with the names.

Some of you may wonder why I am going through this series of articles, thanking all these people in each station of the event. SystemsGo , already thanks all of us, and we know that we are appreciated and needed to help them make this a success, but I am not SystemsGo. I am a parent of two of the former students that went through this program, and a volunteer for it. I am doing this helper to helper because this program has meant so much to both of my girls, and they have benefited from the program and gone on to continue in their career paths because of what they learned here.

I have seen firsthand how SystemsGo’s program of learning can benefit students and enliven their learning and future education. I am here because I want to ensure the continued success of SystemsGo and the STEM and rocket program. I am honored to be a volunteer here and wouldn’t miss it except under uncontrollable duress. It is for that reason that I want to thank all the other volunteers. Many of them like me have had students in the program in the past, but many have not, and yet they are here. They see the benefit and want to help and for that I want to thank them.

I believe we are here to support the future of all students through this program. By supporting SystemsGo and helping these events be possible for our youth we are nurturing young minds in ways that were never available when we were in school. This system of learning helps to better prepare our youth for the business and career world. And more than anything, it inspires them to want to do more and to succeed in what they attempt. It teaches them that there is success even in failure, and that each is only another opportunity to do better.

Thank you all for this exciting time working together to touch the lives of students all across Texas.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

 

Day 15-The Launch Pad Crew

Today’s blog is about the crew that runs the actual launch pad for the rocket tests. Most of this group is made up of past students that have gone through the SystemsGo program. They are all pursuing engineering careers at their respective universities. All three completed the program at Fredericksburg High School and ended that time there with a successful Goddard level rocket launch at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR).

Being at the pad, is both exciting and dangerous. Personnel here have the responsibility of loading each vehicle onto the rail, going for fill and relaying the go ahead for ignition.

These future engineers come back each year for several reasons. First and foremost they all enjoy what they are doing out there. Second as engineering students in college, this is a hands on opportunity to work in the field and have this addition for their resume`s. Lastly, they are big proponents of the program, and know firsthand what it has done for them and what it can do for students in the future so they want to help out and keep the program running, so that others will continue to have this opportunity. Most if not all of this crew will be traveling to WSMR later this summer to help run the launch of the Goddard level rockets being tested there as well.

These students include: Cade Ottmers, Annisa Kneese, and Chelsea Burow.

This year, Annisa brought a group of engineering students from Texas A&M to observe the program here first hand, and  though I do not have all their names,  I wanted to mention them because they also helped at the pad on Sunday. This gave them firsthand experience in what is being done.

Andrew Matthes, the program instructor at FHS, and retired teacher, Ned Butler, also provided assistance, instruction, and monitored safety at the pad throughout the weekend. They help insure that all procedures and checklists are followed to provide the most successful test of each vehicle.

The program wouldn’t be as successful as it is without the willingness and effort of the individuals at the pad. Each vehicle is literally in their hands in the last few moments before the test.  They check for any final issues that might prevent launch, and stand by with each vehicle as it begins fill and watching for signs that the rocket is a go for launch. For this I applaud their hard work and resilience. This year alone they had a 100% launch rate, meaning that every vehicle that made it through the Stages 1, 2, and  3 and down to the pad, left the rail at launch. Congratulations Launch Pad Crew!

Thank each one of you for all you do and are willing to do to help each vehicle complete its launch. You are an outstanding bunch, and so detrimental to the program’s success on launch days.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

 

 

Day 13- Hill view Ranch (The Rocket Ranch) & Willow City – A Big Thank you

Today’s blog is going to be short. It is really just a big shout out to Camey Stewart, the owner of Hillview Ranch, and Willow City and the owners of the surrounding ranches, the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department, and the Willow City School.

First a huge thank you to Ms. Camey Stewart for the use of her ranch each year where the event is actually used as a launch site. This event couldn’t happen without you and your generosity toward SystemsGo and the rocket project as a whole. It takes a big heart to allow this on your property and all that it entails. I know the place takes a bit of a beating each year and this year with the rain, it was probably more than usual. I know that it is greatly appreciated by all. You are a blessing to this educational program.

Second Willow City and most of its residents as a whole. What a fantastic community to allow all these schools to come out, and hold this event in your area.  You are all helping to further the lives and educations of all these students and their futures in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. The fact that the community allows them to come out and have a place to launch rockets, and have the ability to hunt for them and recover them so that each group can complete their projects through the post analysis phase is truly phenomenal. Just having the permissions of the land owners in the area to allow recovery teams come onto their property and search and recover rockets is a big thing in itself.

Third, the Willow City Volunteer Fire Department for both allowing the use of their fire station for Stage 1 rocket inspection, and to supply a truck and volunteers at the launch site and fire house for assistance as needed. Your group is such a vital part of the group. I know you are greatly appreciated, and what’s a day spent watching rockets and smiling students worth anyway? I know for myself as a volunteer it is well worth the time and effort and having you there as support and help makes it that much more.

Also to the Willow City School House/community Center for allowing Stage 2 rocket inspection on your site. Providing the parking and facilities there as well is always a great plus. It amazes me each year as I drive by to the ranch at how full your site is with buses and students even in the early hours.

I can’t give enough praise to all of our friends and neighbors in this area that give so much of themselves, their time, like I already mentioned, just the permissions to be there to this outstanding educational program. The Slogan on the police mule in the featured picture says it all, “Our Community, Our Commitment”, and this community has definitely made a lasting commitment to our students’ education and future.

Lastly, as just one of many volunteers to SystemsGo, I want to say thank you to you for developing this program for our students. I personally have had two daughters go through it and continue on in things that it inspired in their futures. I couldn’t be prouder of each o of them, and I couldn’t be happier that they had this opportunity. Also, thank you SystemsGo for allowing myself and my family to be a continued part of the volunteer staff.

SystemsGo is igniting the lives of students across Texas! Thank you all!

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Day 12-Back to Reality, I Miss Rockets!!!!!!

The first day back at work was a busy one. It was time to catch up on all that had come in while I was out, that Billing Day didn’t require some one do for me in my absence, and there was plenty. Of course I know there was plenty that had been done too. It wasn’t too bad though, and helped me get acclimated again. I also cashiered for half the day so some things had to wait until tomorrow. That is just the nature of the situation.

I did get to have Connie’s lunch at noon today though, so Steve and I were able to eat with Chelsea and Guy before they left for Lubbock again, that was nice.  I also was able to text a little with Kasey today, since she had a training day for newbies and she was bored. We talked about her fun time on her birthday riding roller coasters and hanging with her goofy Marine friends and Melissa. We have a standing joke that her dad started about Marines biting so she assured me no one got bit and then called me silly. I just don’t know what she means by that!

After work, I went to see my mom at rehab. She is doing really well, and will probably get to home later this week after the staples are taken out of her knee. She is really happy about that. She is walking well now, and the pain and swelling are much better again. She says the other knee no longer hurts anymore either. Her hair dresser had been by and fixed her hair for her and she looked so pretty. She was quite happy with that too. It will be great when all this is completely over with and she get out and around again like she could before her knee went bad.

I had church council this evening. And it seems every evening this week there is something again, and apparently Saturday as well, It just seems to be crazy busy all the time. Just a crazy observation, but look at those two words, crazy a busy, yet another conundrum of the English language. They rhyme and both have z sounds, yet one is with a s and the other a z. I know, a random thought, but it was there so I decided to share it.

Last week was quite busy, but I wouldn’t trade it, because that busy was fun and I would go right back to it if I could.  Poor Steve went on call this morning and is still out right now working. No rest for the weary. We had a really brief rain shower a few minutes ago. I haven’t seen the TV or any weather since Wednesday night so I have no real idea what it is supposed to do. Weather tends to cause outages though, so that means work for our linemen, including my Steve.

I am happy to have the rain though. We had a total of 4 inches at my house Thursday through Sunday. Yippy, but now I live in the Amazon, and I don’t think I have moved locations. The worst part is, that all our mowers have quit working, so that creates a problem. Right now I think we need a shredder anyway. There are some areas that my medium-sized dog gets lost in when she runs through it.

I would like to congratulate SystemsGo on another successful launch year for Rockets2015. Both weekends here and Houston went well. I would also like to say how thankful to this program I am. I have had two daughters. I would also like to thank SystemsGo for having us as volunteers for the program. I am really happy to be part of such a fantastic education based program for our youth.

Of course the Goddard level launches are still coming up hopefully in July at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I will keep everyone posted on that as well as information is available. The schedule is always at the mercy of the Army so I won’t give dates until we know for sure, but right now they are looking at early July. Good luck to all those schools and safe  travels when you go there. For more information as usual check their website at www.systemsgo.org .

Day 11-Fredericksburg Rocket Launches Day 4-Sunday, Hondos, and Home

The first day back at work was a busy one. It was time to catch up on all that had come in while I was out, that Billing Day didn’t require some one do for me in my absence, and there was plenty. Of course I know there was plenty that had been done too. It wasn’t too bad though, and helped me get acclimated again. I also cashiered for half the day so some things had to wait until tomorrow. That is just the nature of the situation.

I did get to have Connie’s lunch at noon today though, so Steve and I were able to eat with Chelsea and Guy before they left for Lubbock again, that was nice.  I also was able to text a little with Kasey today, since she had a training day for newbies and she was bored. We talked about her fun time on her birthday riding roller coasters and hanging with her goofy Marine friends and Melissa. We have a standing joke that her dad started about Marines biting so she assured me no one got bit and then called me silly. I just don’t know what she means by that!

After work, I went to see my mom at rehab. She is doing really well, and will probably get to home later this week after the staples are taken out of her knee. She is really happy about that. She is walking well now, and the pain and swelling are much better again. She says the other knee no longer hurts anymore either. Her hair dresser had been by and fixed her hair for her and she looked so pretty. She was quite happy with that too. It will be great when all this is completely over with and she get out and around again like she could before her knee went bad.

I had church council this evening. And it seems every evening this week there is something again, and apparently Saturday as well, It just seems to be crazy busy all the time. Just a crazy observation, but look at those two words, crazy a busy, yet another conundrum of the English language. They rhyme and both have z sounds, yet one is with a s and the other a z. I know, a random thought, but it was there so I decided to share it.

Last week was quite busy, but I wouldn’t trade it, because that busy was fun and I would go right back to it if I could.  Poor Steve went on call this morning and is still out right now working. No rest for the weary. We had a really brief rain shower a few minutes ago. I haven’t seen the TV or any weather since Wednesday night so I have no real idea what it is supposed to do. Weather tends to cause outages though, so that means work for our linemen, including my Steve.

I am happy to have the rain though. We had a total of 4 inches at my house Thursday through Sunday. Yippy, but now I live in the Amazon, and I don’t think I have moved locations. The worst part is, that all our mowers have quit working, so that creates a problem. Right now I think we need a shredder anyway. There are some areas that my medium-sized dog gets lost in when she runs through it.

I would like to congratulate SystemsGo on another successful launch year for Rockets2015. Both weekends here and Houston went well. I would also like to say how thankful to this program I am. I have had two daughters. I would also like to thank SystemsGo for having us as volunteers for the program. I am really happy to be part of such a fantastic education based program for our youth.

Of course the Goddard level launches are still coming up hopefully in July at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. I will keep everyone posted on that as well as information is available. The schedule is always at the mercy of the Army so I won’t give dates until we know for sure, but right now they are looking at early July. Good luck to all those schools and safe  travels when you go there. For more information as usual check their website at www.systemsgo.org .

Day 10-Fredericksburg Rockets Launches Day 3, Birthdays and Weddings

I am going to begin with a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY, to MISS KASEY MARIE BUROW! Folks she is 20 today. We sand to her voicemail this morning and then texted her throughout the day in between her rides on rollercoasters with her cousin, Melissa Jung, and some of their friends. She claimed to be having a great time. I am so glad for that since she is so far away in the US Navy in Norfolk. We will be seeing her soon though for which we are looking forward.

Today was an interesting day. As luck would have it, we started the day once again with a low ceiling, drizzle, and fog. Because of that we didn’t start launches until around noon. Then at first, it was a race to get them up while we had a window in the clouds, but eventually that did burn off and rockets were racking up and going up on a pretty good schedule. We had a rare occurrence today to start off, something that just doesn’t happen too often, happened, and it sure made Captain Garrett a happy man. Stage 1 and Stage 2 had all the rockets show up early and most were set and ready and they were all done and moved to Stage 3 to await flight, by 8:30 this morning.

Therefore, we had quite an audience already by early in the day. There was a tent city of spectators set up behind the fence to see their schools launch. Rockets were filling all the tables in the big tent in the spectator area and well as the Mission Control tent, as soon as they could  be approved by Stage 3 and cleared for flight. It was actually a neat sight. It added to the excitement of the day, and the high anticipation as we all waited for that window in the clouds to open up so launches could commence.

The first rack of 5 took a second attempt on the first three, but eventually 4 left the rails, with the 5th, the Whataburger rocket, returning to Mission Control for a small repair before returning again on the third rack set of the day.

We collected our first recovery for the day which landed about 150 yards in front of us, turned it in, grabbed or lunches and returned to our spot with them just barely in time for the second round, This round sent nothing our way, so we went to help look for several that had landed in the north to northwest areas of the range. We dug one out and then hunted until 3:20, when we realized we had to stop for the day in order to make Miss Brooke Patteson’s wedding, and she was such a gorgeous bride.. She is now Mrs. Brooke Hodges. Congratulations to her and Chris.

We did get side tracked on our way back because we finally located the rocket we had been searching for, and couldn’t possible leave it behind now. It was killing us to leave with less than half the rockets deployed, and as we were about to leave Mission Control, the Whataburger rocket took flight  and wouldn’t you know it, landed literally right  by our position had we still been there. I am sure, Team 3 collected that one for us after the rack was done. Guess we will find out for sure tomorrow.

The wedding was at Kairos Celebration Barn. It was beautiful and very short. The ceremony was conducted  by Scott Hoffman, and he shared a short Aggie story about commitment, read the love passage from 1 Corinthians 13, had them do their vows and the rings, recited the Lord’s prayer, pronounce them married, had them kiss and then sent them inside to supper. No extra music, no extra anything else, just short, sweet, and done and we were inside celebrating with them. It was all very nice, the  food was great, and then it was over and by 9:50 we were headed home again.

By the way, Chelsea, the rocket pad expert cleaned up quite beautifully for her walk down the aisle as a bridesmaid. She will be all shorts and rockets by tomorrow again, though.

Congratulations to all the schools that launched today, they included: Alamo Heights High School, Fort Stockton High School,  Henrietta High School, McGregor High School, Northwest High School, and Union Grove High School. There are 9 launches scheduled for the last day tomorrow. I can’t believe Rockets 2015 will be coming to a close already. It has really gone by quickly. The launch schedule for tomorrow is listed below. Remember you can also find this schedule and the link for the Livestream at www.systemsgo.org .

School
Name		 # 1st Level
Tsiolkovsky		 # 2nd Level
Oberth
Davis High School
Hasan Johnson		 1
Granger High School
Chaston Kubacak		 1
Harlandale High School
Ann Thomas		 1
Manor High School
Will Davis		 3
Sidney Lanier High School
James Rankin		 1 1
Victoria West High School
Cheryl Clark		 1
Schools Launching  6
Totals 8 1
May 17th Total Rockets 9

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

Good evening all. See you at the rocket launches tomorrow.