Friday had another slow start for rockets. The ceiling was a low again. SystemsGo was able to load 24 out of 25 rockets listed on the schedule onto the rails and launched all 24.The 25th was an abort by one of the schools.
Here are a few of those smiling faces taking their rockets down to the pad.

The north end of the range seemed to be the prime spot for landings today, which kept recovery in that area fairly busy. Unfortunately that left those of us on the south end a little bored so we went to help our northern friends quite often. So then how many recovery teams does it take to find one rocket?

As is normal, Transonics amassed most of those still missing in the field. They also made up the bulk of the final ones shot due to waiting on that cloud ceiling to clear. Coordinates for those have been generated, and the search is ongoing.
David Willden and the group from New Mexico helped out until around noon when they had to launch themselves back towards home. There help was greatly appreciated, and for them it was also further training for next year’s second launch series in Jal.
Phil Houseal was busy interviewing spectators, students and volunteers today. He even managed to catch me and coerce me into another interview this year. We seem to have a continued game between us. We both prefer to be behind the camera instead of in the pictures, so I make sure to catch him and get him in the pictures I post, and he catches me and makes me talk on camera.
Tomorrow is another big day on the range, with a full docket of rockets and extra curricular activities after launches are done as well. It will be a busy and long day. It should be fun though. Hopefully the cloud ceiling will open up earlier so we can start those rockets in a more continuous pattern. And the rain can hold off until after dark and all will be good.
Below is the launch schedule for tomorrow, Saturday. There are 7 schools launching a total of 22 rockets tomorrow.
| Saturday, May 20, 2017 | ||
| School Name |
# 1st Level Tsiolkovsky |
# 2nd Level Oberth |
| Akins High School Joyce Sayce |
5 | |
| Fabens High School Manny Moreno |
3 | 2 |
| Henrietta High School Doug Underwood |
2 | 1 |
| Maypearl High School James Herrod |
1 | |
| McGregor High School Chris Kuhl |
1 | 1 |
| North Lamar High School Kathy Stewart |
1 | |
| Northwest High School Elizabeth Mitias |
4 | 1 |
| 7 | ||
| Schools Launching | ||
| Totals | 17 | 5 |
| May 14th Total Rockets | 22 | |
The following is a link to the album of pictures from today’s launch. Have a look you and your school rocket just might be in there.
Good luck to all the schools launching on Saturday. I will update the blog after we complete our day again tomorrow. Here is the link to the live stream again.
http://livestream.com/systemsgo
Please remember that although there is no charge for the event, and these launches are open to public viewing, parking and seating is limited due to safety requirements. For this reason, SystemsGo has a provided a link for you to pre-order tickets for those in your party. This also provides SystemsGo with a way to monitor the number of people in attendance each year. This is in no way meant to discourage your attendance, but is instead to help them provide a great experience for students and spectators, while doing all possible to monitor safety issues and attendance numbers at any one time during the launches.
http://www.systemsgo.org/events/
Event details will be available here each day of the event. Daily reports featuring schedules, school names, results, pictures and some editorial content will also be posted.
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.
#SystemsGo #Rockets2017 #FredericksburgSTEMAcademy #Launcher01 #SystemsGoNewMexico



These are Stage 1 and Stage 2 at Jal Volunteer Fire Department. 
All photos are courtesy of Rebekah Hyatt,
The new Discovery Education Launch Pad during Wednesday’s preparations.
Here Jal High School students move through Stage 1 and 2 vehicle readiness checks. More photos from today’s activities are available here: 