Amateur Rocketry is Essential

Some ramblings of the aRocket web master.

NASA did a magnificent job putting American men on the Moon. They were given a challenge and the succeeded, they deserve credit for that achievement.

Our species is in its adolescence, we are rebelling against the constraints of our Mother Planet. If we are to survive, and if Earth is to survive, we must move to the stars.

Today we can no longer look to NASA and the large aerospace companies for innovation. Amateur rocketeers, people who build and fly rockets because it is what they love to do, are the innovators today. With materials from the hardware store and the kitchen they will get humanity off the planet.

Why cannot NASA innovate? They still can, but they are constrained by huge budgets and massive bureaucracy. Their large budget precludes the type of thinking that really solves problems! It is possible for them to buy whatever they need so they do not have to really dig and think about a new approach.

Then there is the problem of what is happening to American society. We are becoming afraid of risk and yet life itself in inherently unsafe! New parents can buy padding for their walls so their child does not bang him/herself. Unfortunately that child will learn later, rather than sooner, that running into walls is not a good idea.

There are risks in amateur rocketry. There are far more risks driving on a California freeway! We think nothing of driving yet we are spooked at the idea of ordinary citizens flying their home built rockets. Airplane technology has been developed by backyard airplane builders; shade tree mechanics have advanced the automobile; amateur rocketeers are the future of rocketry innovation.

Let them build their rockets and let them fly.