Attendees: (21) Chris Franklin, Jessica Fox, Charles Barnett, Dave Kovar, Doug Probst, Chuck Meckfessel, Emma Meckfessel, Molly Meckfessel, Don Hanson, Mike Walsh, Jason Garbus, Oliver Garbus, Dennis Tuchalski, Joel Weston, Larry Hileman, John Cella, John Buckley, Dave Deweese, Dave Pape, Nina Fischer, Estela Villa

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

Called to order at 7:01 pm

New Attendees:  Nina Fischer & Estela Vila (Members of the Wash U Rocketry Club)

Achievements and Contributions:

• Joel Weston: New SLRA Launch Badges complete with number of years as SLRA member, and current year of membership (2025)
• Dave Pape reported SoSo now has a new home at the City Museum.  City Museum officials still unsure how to display SoSo.  Six different display scenarios are being considered.  Marvin the Martian Helmet was included in the donation.

26 November 2024 SLRA Meeting Minutes approved

Treasury Status

• Current Balance $2,19538.31
• Expenses: $55
• Dave K has been reimbursement for NAR and Tripoli Youth Awards  $12.91 Print Paper, and $21.69 Award Frames,
• Dave K has been reimbursement $160 for Buder Park Spooktacular fee.  Dave also paid club $70 for Tripoli Youth award initially paid and reimbursed to Doug Probst.
• Other Expenses = $55
• Deposits = $581.60

SLRA Memberships Total = 24

Launch Reports:

• Jason and Oliver Garbus traveled to Tampa Florida to attend a High Power Launch there.  It was the final event at the Lauch Site due to housing encroachment.  Oliver had the first launch of the day.  Oliver and Jason launched an additional five rockets throughout the remainder of the day.

Upcoming Launches

• Elsberry HP Launch 15 February and 8 March
• Buder Park Launch 29 March
• Central Illinois Aerospace HP Launches in Decator IL: 8, 22, and 29 March
• NARAM 23-29 June in Muncie, Indiana
• Midwest Power 7-9 November

Old Business

• Website:  Joel and Doug are tag teaming on tracking 2025 membership registration through the website.  Joel is testing Club Express as a possible location for our website. Joel has scheduled time with a Club Express Representative to gain further familiarization with the platform. Membership tracking appears to be me with Club Express.  Communication is not so easy. 
• Trailer Insurance:  Doug was not successful in obtaining insurance for the trailers.  SLRA President Chris Franklin was to continue efforts to obtain insurance for the trailers. Mike Walsh suggested establishing a Savings account for the trailer as a form of insurance.  Consider calling trailer as limited Liability Organization and the trailers as mobile Tool Rooms.
• Mike Walsh reported Fire Extinguishers have been purchased for $250.  Jason Garbus my get discount for any additional Fire Extinguishers that need to be purchased.

New Business    

-   Doug Probst now has SLRA website administrative access

-   Motion made and approved to eliminate High Power Launch Fees for SLRA members.

-   Dave Kovar announced his retirement date of 4 July 2025.  He’ll be moving to Las       Cruces, NM upon retirement

Adjourned 7:45 pm

The First SLRA Meeting/Build Session for 2025 is this Tuesday January 28^th at the Sunset Hill Bandana’s BBQ (11750 Gravois Rd, St. Louis, MO 63127). 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 table tops.   

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

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

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,

Hope to see you at the meeting!!

Happy Rocketeering!!

Secretary Dave

From the prefect:

With the freeze/thaw cycle this week the field will most likely be a mud pit. There won’t be enough sunshine to dry that field out before next weekend.

Dan Welling called Mr. Mayes yesterday to ask if we should bother calling later in the week, but got the answering machine. He asked him to call back if he thought there might be a chance to fly next weekend… if no chance, don’t call back. So far we’ve not heard back, I would say that is our answer.

Better to cancel now and folks can make their own plans for next weekend than have them waiting for nothing.

Let’s hope for better luck in February.

Mike

The Buder Park 2025 Launch Schedule has been announced:

• March 29th – Sport Launch
• April 26th – NASA Themed Celebrating 55th anniversary of Apollo 13 & 52nd anniversary of Skylab. Highlights: Apollo 13, Skylab, & Skylab 1 Mission Launch Reenactments
• May 31st – Classic Estes Themed Launch (1958-1990 kits)
• June 21st – Summer Solstice Night Launch
• July 26th – Sport Launch
• August 23rd – C Eggloft Competition
• September 27th – Sport Launch
• October 25th – Spooktacular Night Launch Event

For those of you who are NAR members, be aware that they have made some major changes to their website. I think this also includes the member database and probably other things involved with running the organization. You should have gotten an email from the NAR with information on how to log in to the new website. Your old user name and password won't work. The email should have included a new, temporary user name and password. Use that to log in to the website and then you can change your user name and password back to the ones you were using before, or something new and different if you feel like a change.

If you didn't get the email, or it got lost somewhere, you can use the link that says something like, "Forgot my name and/or password." I don't recall the exact wording, but you get the idea. It is right below the spaces where you would put in your name and password. Then you will be sent via email a temporary name and password you can use to log in and then set the name and password you want to use.

The URL for the NAR website is the same: https://www.nar.org When you visit the NAR website be sure to add yourself to the SLRA and or any other clubs you fly with. You can do this by going to your Profile page (on the pull down menu under your name in the upper right hand corner of the page). Select "Clubs/Additional Members" from the "More Member Options" list. Click on "Add Club" next to your name.

All,

The high-power launch scheduled for Saturday, December 21 has been cancelled due to the field being too wet. Our next scheduled launch is January 25, 2025. (Don't forget and keep writing 2024 on your flight cards!)