Sunday, January 17, 2010

THE ANCIENT ORDER OF ROCKETEERS

Yabu calls me the Propulsion Engineer, and not without reason... for I have had a long, if intermittent, association with Model Rocketry.

Many of my Bloggy Buddies have seen my aerial exploits firsthand. While it’s not mandatory to fly a few finned projectiles at blogmeets, it’s become an off-again, on-again tradition of sorts.

My history with this hobby, however, goes back a good deal farther.

Back in the 1960’s, it was entirely respectable to have a Thoroughly Nerdly Hobby... especially if you were a thirteen-year-old kid. And so you could say I was entirely respectable, for launching rockets was about as nerdly as you could get.

Submitted here for your delectation and viewing pleasure is this Documentary Video that captures, in grainy 8mm film, a few moments in a rocket-studded summer of long ago. The year was 1966, and I was a few weeks away from high school...



Yes, we were nerds, then, back in those days of innocence before getting caught up in the Great American Vagina-Hunt. But we were children, then, too - and damn, we had fun.

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