I came across these RRS news letters from the 1940’s for sale and got them for about seventy dollars. I’ll post them in the library as soon as I can get them scanned.* They have some interesting stuff like some reporting about a nitric acid and wood hybrid rocket engine that was built and tested. Certainly an interesting choice for a propellant combination. I’d liked to share part of what they put on the back cover:

Purpose:
The REACTION RESEARCH SOCIETY is a non-profit organization whose purpose is to aid in the development of reaction propulsion, its applications, and to promote interest in this new science. This purpose is carried out by maintaining an active research program, encouraging other experimenters, and promoting interest in reaction propulsion by the publication of ASTRO-JET, Journal of the Reaction Research Society.

With that in mind I’d like to report that the next issue of the newsletter doesn’t have much more work left, now that things are settled over here and I’m moved in I’ll be able to put some time towards it, we just need for Chris to finish up his article and I’ll put it together.

*Probably at the university of Texas at Austin where they have book scanners available for use. I also found some Pacific Rocket Society newsletters in the library archives they have there. I was unable to scan them because the way the multiple issues where bound together. I’ll see what I can do about coming up with a solution to that and see if I can get them scanned at some point.

-Richard Garcia

Some good news, I’ve gotten a job as a bonafide rocket scientist. I’ve been hired as a propulsion design engineer at a new launch vehicle company, FireFly Space systems. They plan to build a small 2 stage launch vehicle capable of putting up around 300 to 400 kilograms into orbit. It happened pretty quickly, I found out about it the place just a few weeks ago, sent in my resume and now I’m already in Austin Texas, where the company is located. Austin seems like a nice place so far but that bit is of course bad news for the RRS since I wont be able to attend meetings, launches, or do reports on them with any sort of regularity if ever. But that’s how things go. I’ll sill maintain the website and work on the newsletter and collecting materials for the digital library (but more on that in a latter post). I’ll be happy to pass along any info or reports on anything RRS related that anyone wants to get the word out on. Also I’m still interested in setting up the RRS meeting to be webinar capable with a web service like Skype or GoToMeetings, and I’d be willing to put up some cash for hardware, but it would take someone still back in LA to run it. I don’t know how much interest anyone down there has about doing that.

I still plan to work on some amateur rocket stuff, I’ve made the commitment to at least static test some liquid propellant rockets, but it will probably just go at a slower pace, since I will most likely be putting in a lot of extra hours in at this new job. I’d still like to try making it out to launches or other events when I can and I plan to remain active, just farther away.

-Richard Garcia