Page 48 of 55 - Previous page

Senator Enzi is going to ask the ATFE for an extension of the May 24th deadline. On that date, everyone wanting to purchase APCP rocket motors and reloads will need an ATFE permit. It is unknown whether the ATFE will extend the deadline.

However, similar extensions were granted by the ATFE when problems arose earlier in the year with the Safe Explosive Act provisions regarding Canadian truckers driving explosives from Canada into the United States.

The length of the extension will be sufficient for Congress to review and pass S724. Currently, the bill is the Senate Judiciary Committee where it is being reviewed by committee staff.

[ from http://www.space-rockets.com/arsanews#extension ]

• iz

---

Comments

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., is inviting journalists and rocket enthusiasts to join him at the world's largest model rocket contest Saturday about an hour's drive west of Washington, D.C.

Enzi hopes large numbers of people attend so they can get a first-hand look at the hobby he is trying to protect from over regulation by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms. Enzi has introduced a bill, S. 724, that would exempt users of certain model rocket propellants from explosive permit requirements, much like antique firearm users are exempted from permit requirements for black powder use.

Model rocket enthusiasts are worried about how enforcement of regulations and the passage of restrictions in the Homeland Security Act could negatively affect them. Enzi's legislation would assure rocketeers that they can continue to enjoy their hobby without having to jump through a lot of needless regulatory hoops. Enzi's bill has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee for consideration.

The National Team America Rocketry Challenge will feature competition between the nation's top 100 high school model rocket teams and is being held in honor of the centennial of flight. The Rocketry challenge is being sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Enzi plans to be on hand for the awards ceremony scheduled to begin at about 5 p.m.

Enzi will be joined at the event by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, Homer Hickam, author of “Rocket Boys” and “Back to the Moon”, Marshall Space Flight Center Director Art Stephenson, U.S. Centennial of Flight Chairman and National Air and Space Museum Director Gen. J.R. (Jack) Dailey, NASA astronaut Jay Apt and others.

More information about the event can be obtained by visiting http://www.rocketcontest.org or http://www.aia on the Web. For more information on Enzi's model rocket protection bill visit enzi.senate.gov on the Web.

---

Comments

For those of you that have not already heard, a group of 10 of us DC-area rocketeers (NAR and TRA) spent the afternoon of April 30 over on Capitol Hill, lobbying Senators on behalf of the Enzi bill. Supported by John Kyte, a professional lobbyist and dedicated rocketeer who told us exactly how to do this kind of thing effectively and organized our activity, we distributed packets of material on the safety of the hobby and the reasons for why we need legislative relief to the offices of virtually every Senator. In many cases we were able to spend 10-15 minutes with the staffer who is handling this issue for the Senator. I even got to see a Senator directly (SEN Crapo, a co-sponsor of the bill).

To those of you who have donated materials for making up these packets, thanks – they were excellent and effective. To those of you who have written your Senators, it's working! Nearly every Senator's staff was well aware of the Enzi bill because of the volume of constituent letters and faxes they had received. One Senator's staff (Michigan) reported being “buried” by over a hundred – nice job by the Michigan rocketeers!

Please don't think that we are done just because of one volley of letters, it will take sustained, stronger, even broader pressure to earn us a good chance of being one of the small percentage of the special-interest bills that goes all the way from introduction to enactment. But it was sure nice to know that our first step has been effective. Your DC-area rocketeers are standing ready to go back over and lobby again on all our behalf when this is needed again to move the bill one more step down the road to law.

Trip Barber

NAR Vice President

[ reposted from ROL by iz ]

---

Comments

p. From Report on Top-Level Assessment of Use of Apollo Systems for ISS (SpaceRef.com)

p. __

“A small team… was chartered by NASA to make a top-level assessment of the viability of using

the Apollo Command and Service Modules the basis for a Crew Return Vehicle, and potentially

for a Crew Transfer Vehicle, for the International Space Station. This assessment was conducted

13-14 March 2003.”__

p.

If NASA really does this, it sounds great to me. Apollo wasn't a bad system, in fact it seemed pretty robust considering Apollo 13, Schirra's lightning strike (Apollo 12?), etc. Assuming that it really can be resurrected, using design docs in existence and some of the old staff, it could bring back some common sense and experience to counter NASA's “Brain Drain” of the recent years.

---

Comments

p. I'm sure I could come up with some huge list of recent events and comments coming from the Space Access '03 conference but since I wasn't there I couldn't give you anything that Clark Lindsey hasn't already done on Hobby Space.

p. But what I can give you is my view on it all by telling you a little story. I've been going to the IETF since '92 which means I've seen the Internet change a hell of a lot over the past 12 years. The one thing that sticks in my mind is the Houston meeting (November '93). I was in the terminal room when the guys from UIUC came in and started to demo their new web browser (at the time this wasn't a big deal because gopher had a much higher adoption rate). The one thing that caught my eye was the fact that it had pictures. And then Tim Berners-Lee came into the room and proceeded to watch the demo (he didn't like the IMG tag very much). It was at that moment that I felt something. It wasn't buzz or hype or anything like that. It was just a quiet, but very rapid build up of human potential energy. I told myself to remember that feeling.

p. I got that same feeling hearing about the things that happened this past weekend. And I don't intend on missing out on it again.

p. Its to much of a coincedence that the same day the Space Access conference was going on was also the 10th Birthday for the Mosaic browser.

---

Comments

Newsweek's latest issue has an excellent article on the private space race going on right now; a lot of it in some secrecy and funded by internet billionaires - the scoop there is that Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com seems to have his own venture, Blue Origin, which is planning its own X-prize style vehicle; about 2 years away from launch. More discussion of this over at slashdot.

---

Comments

Get 'em here.

---

Comments

A second letter writing campaign has been started to shore up and win additional support from members of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senate Bill S724 is currently being reviewed by members and staff of the committee.

People are welcome to write from all 50 states, but those people in the states of committee members will have the most impact on the members. We strongly urge all people in committee member states to write to their respective Senators.

Committee member states are Alabama, Arizona, California, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.

You can obtain more information and discussion points for your letter by going to the following link.

http://www.space-rockets.com/congress.html

This letter campaign has been cleared with Senator Enzi's staff.

You may repost this message to any forum.

John Wickman

Amateur Rocketry Society of America

[ reposted here by iz ]

---

Comments

Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites rolled out its full up two stage suborbital transportation system today. HobbySpace has the best coverage. With the actual Scaled Composites site here.

p.

Update 13:15:It looks as though Burt has two companies competing for who gets to make his motor. SpaceDev is one. We don't know who the other is. Possibly Armadillo?

Update 14:02:Associated Press story, SpaceRef Story

---

Comments

XCOR Aerospace announced today it has successfully acquired an additional $187,500 in equity investments. This round of investment qualifies the company for a Department of Defense program that matches private capital four to one up to $750,000. The funds will be used for development of rocket engine pump technology.

---

Comments

Next page