Attendees: (17) Chris Franklin, Charles Barnett, Chuck Meckfessel, Molly Meckfessel, Jason Garbus, Oliver Garbus, John Sullivan, Larry Hileman, Rob Benton, John Hilker, Henry Wright, Sydney Rice, Dennis Turgalski, Chris Lagemann, Joe Avins, Dave Pape, Dan Crank 

Sunset Hills Bandana’s BBQ; 11750 Gravois Rd, Saint Louis, MO 63127

Called to order at 7:00 p.m.

New Attendees:  None

Achievements and Contributions:

• Chuck Meckfessel has assortment of rockets to donate
• Henry Wright is mentoring the SLU team – have a hybrid ‘O’ motor rocket they are planning to launch at ESRA in Texas.

26 May 2026 SLRA Meeting Minutes needed some additional details added for high power flights.  (Revisions made and posted to website 21 July, 2026.)

Treasury Status

• Current Balance $2,587.94
• Deposits: $100 raffles
• Expenses: None

SLRA Memberships Total: 60 members (58 Senior, 2 Junior)

Launch Reports:

• Buder Park – Good turnout according to Doug Probst.  According to Chuck everyone got to fly twice.  College students attending wanted to fly high power, but were denied.  2 new people + a family attended. (Clarification on Buder limits:  Maximum G total impulse, 1500 g liftoff mass.)
• Mini-Midwest @ Princeton – Don Hanson flew high power and almost lost a rocket.

Upcoming Launches

• Elsberry HP Launches – Fall/Winter 2026/2027.  Tentatively October/November, 2026 timeframe.
• Buder Park – June 27, July 11/July 12, July 25, 2026
• Mo-Kan (South Greenfield, MO)  http://tripolimokan.org  They generally launch the third Saturday of every month during the flying season.  Time: 12:00 CST-17:00 CST
• Central Illinois Aerospace – http://www.ciarocketry.org  Contact Greg Smith, Director of Operations, at 217-820-1678, or via email to operations@ciarocketry.org  Directions to their launch sites can be found on their website under the ‘Reconnaissance’ link. 
• Quad Cities rocket Club (Note: near Wildman Rocketry) https://qcrc.clubexpress.com  Email: Info@QCRC.us  Note they will be holding a mini Midwest Power weekend of May 23-24, 2026.
• Goat Ranch – Springfield, MO – 3^rd Saturday of the month
• Kloudbusters, Argonia, Kansas.  Check their website for details on future launches:  https://kloudbusters.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=325948&module_id=566855 Note that they will be holding AIRFest September 4-7, 2026. Check email for registration.  Need NAR/TRA membership card or image to fly at launches.

Old Business

• Doug Probst checked into costs associated with Club Express.  Costs would be $450/month + $1000 to cutover from existing website to new Club Express site.  Will shelve discussion on this move to new website until next year.
• GSLMA disbanding, with funds to be distributed to member organizations.  Doug did not attend the most recent Zoom meeting.
• Let Jason Garbus know if you are interested in pursuing a level 3 certification.  There is some new paperwork involved with the process.  Best to start early!
• John Buckley noted that all NAR members should log onto the new NAR website and check their profile to be sure they are associated with the St. Louis Rocketry Association (Section #551).  This needs to be done manually by each user. 
• It was also noted that we will have to hold to a ‘no membership card-no flight’ rule at our NAR/TRA launches.  However, a digitally downloaded membership card will be sufficient to allow a person to fly. Elsberry launch fees: Free for club members; $10 for high power, $5 for low power.
• Nina Fischer has graduated from Wash. U. and is outgoing President of the Wash. U. Rocket Club.  Incoming President will be Avery Boswell.  Nina noted that there will be a large turnover of club members (13-15) over the next year.  They would still be interested in any mentoring input that SLRA could provide.  The club did have about 10 members achieve L1 certification at the recent LDRS.  The club has about 74 members at present.  They’ve also been participating in the NASA SLI (Student Launch Initiative) as well as attending Argonia.  They will look into participating in the America’s Cup in the future. 
• Chris Franklin noted that the club would always like help with setup/teardown at the Elsberry launches. 
• John O’Neill asked if there was any interest in the NAR Range Safety Officer training course.  Check out the NAR website for details. 
• For 2026, St. Louis County Parks needs to be contacted to advise them of our scheduled Buder Park launch dates.  (Note: After the meeting, Doug Probst handled the scheduling requests.  Thanks, Doug!)  Subsequent to this effort, official club date reservations with St. Louis County Parks for the use of Buder were dropped by the club, because St. Louis County Parks required a $100 fee for each date reserved.  The club will pay daily use fees for rocket flyers instead.  For the night launch in October, official club reservations with St. Louis County Parks will be pursued.)
• John O’Neill noted that the NAR has made available a guide for mentors.  This was forwarded to the club treasurer along with the club charter certificate and is available if anyone would like a copy.
• Locks on trailers aren’t the original combination locks.  Mike Walsh might have the keys to them. 
• The subject of paying a stipend to member(s) who haul the club trailers to launches was brought up and given a favorable review.  Further details to be discussed at upcoming meetings.
• Wash U. and Chaminade rocket teams still looking for mentors if interested.
• Any candidate alternate launch sites?  No new ones at this time.  John O’Neill may perform a search via airplane flight.  Possible use of RC airplane field near Eureka, MO?  Area near Riverport?  No progress on this item at this time.
• Doug Probst and ____ will be helping out with flying at Buder for a Jewish group, who can’t attend regular Saturday club launches. 
• Following a recent launch, Doug Probst fixed a broken part on club trailer hitch.  Club would be responsible for reimbursing his expenses related to the repair.
• Jason Garbus asks that members associate their accounts to Facebook to facilitate mailings/housekeeping. (clarification?)

New Business  

• Jason Garbus reminded everyone: make sure SLRA is selected on your Tripoli Rocketry Association member profile, so that your Tripoli voting ballot will be handled correctly.
• SLRA voting procedures?  Those present at the July meeting will be able to vote.  If anyone has a desire to run for a particular office, let us know.

Adjourned 7:16 p.m.

Raffle items: No raffle following this meeting.

A reminder - Annual elections for club officers will be held at the July Meeting - Tuesday, July 28, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. - Bandanas, Sunset Hills. Show up and vote (or run for office)!

The Next SLRA Meeting/Build Session is next Tuesday, June 28^th, 2026, at the Sunset Hills Bandana’s BBQ (11750 Gravois Rd, St. Louis, MO 63127) Coordinates 38.53096/-90.38616.

6:00 - 7:00 PM – Rocket Talk Social Hour/Dinner/Build Session
7:00 - ?:?? PM – SLRA Meeting
Post Meeting – More Rocket Talk and Build Session until 9:00 pm 

The meeting location is in the basement of the restaurant.  You’ll need to enter from the back of the restaurant.   We have lots of room to spread-out. There are lots of tables for enabling us to have a coincident Build Session. 

If you have a rocket project you’re working on, bring it to the meeting.  Be sure to bring a table cover (newspaper/poster board) and cutting board to prevent damage to tabletops.   

This is also a great opportunity to bring rocketry-related questions to ask seasoned Low to High Power Rocketeers who will be in attendance. Interested in Competition rocketry, those questions can be answered as well.

Schaefer’s Hobby is nearby as well.   They’re open till 6:00 pm. 

If you’re a member of SLRA and are registered on the website, you can view minutes of previous meetings from our website’s Meeting Minutes Page, the unresolved discussions from our previous meeting will be the basis of our “Old Business” discussion at Tuesday’s meeting.

Happy Rocketeering!!!

Secretary John

The election for Tripoli prefect and secretary will be coming up during the month of July. (This is separate from the SLRA election of officers and board of directors.) If you are a member of Tripoli, you will need to check a few things to ensure you receive the emails and ballot: make sure your Tripoli profile is associated with SLRA as your prefecture, that it has your correct email address, and that your email address is visible. (You can hide your email address again after the election if you wish.)

• Log in to https://www.tripoli.org/
• Click the arrow next to your name in the upper right and select "my member directory listing"
• Make sure your correct email address is shown under "Contact Information" and St. Louis Rocketry Association is shown under "Prefectures." To correct either of these, use the edit button next to that section.
• Click the arrow next to your name again and select "profile"
• Click "edit visibility settings"
• Make sure one of the options with email is shown, as below, and click save.
• You should receive an email from me (Dan Crank, danno@danno.org) by July 10 with more information about the election. If you have set up your Tripoli profile as described above and you don't get this email, please email me and I'll help figure it out.

Thanks,
Dan Crank, Tripoli prefecture secretary

The Next SLRA Meeting/Build Session is next Tuesday, June 23^rd, 2026, at the Sunset Hills Bandana’s BBQ (11750 Gravois Rd, St. Louis, MO 63127) Coordinates 38.53096/-90.38616.

6:00 - 7:00 PM – Rocket Talk Social Hour/Dinner/Build Session
7:00 - ?:?? PM – SLRA Meeting
Post Meeting – More Rocket Talk and Build Session until 9:00 pm 

The meeting location is in the basement of the restaurant.  You’ll need to enter from the back of the restaurant.   We have lots of room to spread-out. There are lots of tables for enabling us to have a coincident Build Session. 

If you have a rocket project you’re working on, bring it to the meeting.  Be sure to bring a table cover (newspaper/poster board) and cutting board to prevent damage to tabletops.   

This is also a great opportunity to bring rocketry-related questions to ask seasoned Low to High Power Rocketeers who will be in attendance. Interested in Competition rocketry, those questions can be answered as well.

Schaefer’s Hobby is nearby as well.   They’re open till 6:00 pm. 

If you’re a member of SLRA and are registered on the website, you can view minutes of previous meetings from our website’s Meeting Minutes Page, the unresolved discussions from our previous meeting will be the basis of our “Old Business” discussion at Tuesday’s meeting.

Happy Rocketeering!!!

Secretary John