It was a busy launch day on Feb 20 at MDRA.  We had 3 flights, 2 for Tesla and 1 for Darwin.  Recovery was a bit tricky, or we would have launched a couple more times.  We will be downloading the flight data soon and preparing for the launch on March 12.  Please remember the Paint Night scheduled for March 24 to support the teams.  Registration form can be downloaded here.

After 10+ years of Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and 4 years of NASA Student Launch Initiative (SLI) at Spring Grove, we can check off almost every single item on this list except #3.  More launch photos and videos this coming week.

Currently we are not able to print parts out of Ultem, which is a heat resistant material.  Here is a video and photo of two fin brackets being printed for us by our sponsor TE Connectivity.  The gold fin bracket looks great on the black rocket.  Thank you Bob and Keith for all of your help!

There is an excellent article in the York Dispatch about the team here.  If you are seeing our page for the first time due to the story, welcome.  We are very glad you are here.  Please scroll down or click on a month to the right, and check out the previous posts with videos, photos and various other pieces of interest about our teams.

GoFundMe page back up and running...a glitch had our GoFundMe page down yesterday, but it is back up and running if you are willing to donate to support our team, we would greatly appreciate it.  

Paint Night will be held March 24 at the high school and for only $40 you will be given all supplies and instructions for creating the chosen painting.  Please scroll down for the registration forms.

ABC 27 feature _ James Crummel visited the high school last month and a segment about our teams will air on ABC 27 at 4:30am, 5:30am and 6:30am on Wednesday March 2.  Let us know what you think about the story.

As promised, here is an amazing video.  This launch video of Team Tesla's rocket is filmed at 240 frames per second so you can get a very high detail view of the launch.  More pictures and videos daily.  Also there will be a segment on ABC 27 morning news next week on Wednesday March 2 at 4:30am, 5:30am and 6:30am called Crummel's Classroom.  

I know that you are not used to seeing photos like the one above on our website, but there is a good reason for it.  I promise to upload more rocket photos and videos later to make it up to you.   The SLI teams will hold a paint night on March 24, 6-8pm.  For only $40, you will be given all of the supplies and taught how to paint this scene.  Refreshments will also be sold that night as well.  Please download the form below.  All checks are to be made payable to SGASD. The one mile mark is proving to be a bit more elusive than planned and we will have more practice launches than planned, so please support our teams.  Share with family and friends.  Sign up as a group and you all can sit at the same table and have a wonderful evening.

The video above shows both rocket launches.  Team Darwin is on the left and Team Tesla on the right.  Great HD video of both coming off the pad.  Turn up the volume and experience the shear power of the launches.  Both rockets are the same weight, 18.6lbs, so you are able to see how much more power Team Darwin has off the pad.  More to com this week.

Click on each picture above to see the whole image.  Amazing high definition photos taken by Todd at the MDRA launch.  Thank you for such awesome photos!  Many more items to follow all week.

A reminder, if you have a Rutters Rewards card.  Please login to your account on the Rutters website and select Spring Grove Student Launch Initiative as a charity.  If not, please consider going to our GoFundMe account and making even a small donation to help us complete this program.  ​https://www.gofundme.com/sgsli

The video on the left is full speed HD video of the first launch of the day by team Tesla.  The 18.6 pound rocket took off on a Cesaroni K1200 motor.  That motor provides enough thrust that it pulls almost 20Gs coming off the pad.  The video on the right is the same HD quality video, but at a reduced speed for you to feel the raw power of that motor.  The rocket climbed to over 5500ft.  Stop back daily for more photos, videos and information from the second full scale launch weekend from SLI 2016.

Just a snap shot of two of our rockets sitting on the pads.  Stop back daily for launch videos, photos and information from our 3 full scale launches today.  It has already been a busy flying season, with 8 full scale launches of our 4 rockets for NASA #studentlaunch 

After being delayed by several school closures and delays due to the largest snowfall on record in this area, the teams are finishing up preparing their rockets for the upcoming launch.  The teams will launch this Saturday at the Maryland Delaware Rocketry Association (MDRA) launch in Price, MD.  We will have launch videos, photos and updates for you next week.  Thank you for all of the kind words and support as we continue our journey.

Throughout this school year, we have received various grants and donations from organizations.  The donations have been made from companies and individuals.  We would like to take the time to recognize and thank all of our supporters.  Without your help, we would not be able to participate in this competition.  Please visit our "sponsors" page to see all of the very generous corporate sponsors that have either made a donation, purchased advertising space on the rocket or awarded us money through grants.  Each of their logos is a link to their company website, just click on the logo and you are there.  We have also received a total of $760 with our GoFundMe page : https://www.gofundme.com/9edztfrk.  Recently we also received a very generous donation from an individual who would like to remain anonymous.  Thank you all for your contributions as we get closer and closer to our total fundraising goal of $26,000 this year.  The funds are going to supplies, motors, transportation to practice launches, lodging expenses, and will also cover the expense for our trip to Huntsville, AL in April 2016.  Thank you all!

For those who don't already know, we are the Spring Grove Rockets.  Makes it only fitting that we compete in Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) and the NASA Student Launch Initiative (SLI), don't it?  Work is currently being done to prepare for our second round of full scale launches on Feb 20.

Crummel's Classroom, a segment that airs on Wednesday on ABC 27 news, recorded a segment this week at the high school.  They interviewed team members and recorded video of the team working on various parts of the full scale rockets.  The episode will air the first Wednesday of March.  More information will follow.  It is an exciting time of the year as we prepare the full scale rockets for their second launch weekend on Feb 20.  Adjustments will be made to the altitude and the payloads.  #studentlaunch #sgasd

If you regularly shop at Rutters convenience stores, please register your Rutters Rewards card and register your card on their website.  Once you do you are able to select a charity.  For every purchase you make, a small donation will be made to our team.  Save money on gas, earn free items, and help us raise money in the process.  While you are on their website activate your VIP offers.  This month you get get a free pack of Mentos gum, a free coffee with every breakfast sandwich and buy one and get one free half gallon of Rutters tea.  Thank you.