Shouldn't the domain be moonroc2019.com? Moon rock, get it? Available
for a big $2.99/year on GoDaddy.com.
Oddly enough, moonroc.com is taken, privately registered by someone in
Arizona. moon-roc.com is available however.
Terry
On 12/10/2018 4:57 PM, David Erbas-White wrote:
On 12/10/2018 12:47 PM, Mike Ostby wrote:
Mike,
I'm responding to what I've seen in the thread to this point, along with a tiny bit of additional background, and I'll add my two pence worth...
I'm probably the one that asked you originally about this, back at the November 2017 ROCStock. I polled most/all of the board members that were at that launch but was told a) it's too early to think about it, and b) we may be doing something else (which turns out to be NSL). I was excited about it enough at the time to go out and purchase a one-year term for the web domains 'moonstock2019.com' and 'moonstock2019.org' in the hope that we'd end up doing something like this. My fleeting original 'hope' was that we could either move ROCStock to be July 20th, move our July launch to July 20th, or simply add this in as a once-in-a-lifetime event. I'd hoped that (perhaps) we could even rent one of those big air-conditioned tents (like we had at Jean), so that we could have some protection from the wind, have some A/C, and even show some exhibits (I have a substantial number of museum-quality Apollo kits that could be displayed, and I'm sure other members have things as well). I had even hoped that if we did it 'big' enough, it might end up being a 'media event' with some kind of news coverage for all the various channels that would serve the dual purpose of commemorating the anniversary and showcasing our club.
However, during the course of this year, as NSL became a reality (in place of ROCstock), and there seemed to be little/no other interest in pursuing an actual July 20th launch, I decided that the best (i.e., most realistic) course of action would simply be to go out and launch on my own on the anniversary, and if anyone else felt like doing so, great... Last year I had asked various members of the board (informally) about this, and the process was more along the lines of a) still too early to plan for it, and b) we're already doing NSL, and that's really a big pile of work, so plan on any anniversary stuff for that launch. My hope had been that the club would request the July 20th date as a possible launch date regardless, as I know in past years there have been things like requesting a possibility of a waiver for all weekends, and occasionally planning for an additional launch day, and even letting (under strict controls) members use the ROC waiver for more individualized launches. Since I received no feedback from anyone during the course of the year, when the web domains came up for renewal lately, I just let them lapse, as there seemed no point to it (I should add that I've since 'recovered' them).
The board indicated willingness to add the July 20th date to the waiver at the annual meeting (logistics for that process have to be worked out), and perhaps BLM stuff will be needed as well, if we're doing any kind of 'official' event.
Personally, I plan on going out on the 20th, and launching a Saturn V at 6:32AM (the actual time of the launch on July 16th), again at 9:32AM (pretending that east coast time is the same as west coast time and that the 20th is actually the 16th), and launching a Mars Lander (or reasonable facsimile thereof) to represent a lunar lander at 12:17PM (actual time of touchdown of Eagle on the moon). I would welcome anyone to accompany me who would like to do so. If I'm the only one out there, I'll have my launch pad with me and anyone who wants can use it. Conversely, if we make a big club thing out of it, we can have all of our club equipment out there (especially the ever-popular porta-potties).
I've put a lot of thought into what I think would be 'best' (and I really do mean that in great big air quotes) for both the club and the commemoration, and here's what I've ended up rationalizing:
1. We've got a gigantic crapload of work set up for NSL, so any big event is pretty much moot.
2. As Rick mentioned, the second Saturday is the traditional launch day, and some folks will rely on that, no matter what.
3. I, and a few (or a few hundred, or a few thousand) close friends will show up on July 20th to celebrate no matter what (unless there's another... - what word for Flood rhymes with July?)
having said all that,
4. IF, and it's a big IF, the club decides to do a formal July 20th thing, I would recommend a) heavy publicity of such, b) indicate that the July 13th launch will still occur but PRIMARILY FOR TESTING for July 20th, and c) make the July 20th launch as big as we can reasonably do. That way we still cover folks who want to launch on the second Saturday, but the main effort goes into the commemoration.
5. Lastly, I'm still kind of in favor of the big rental tent concept for the 20th, if possible. Morning launch, mid-morning launch, noon landing, afternoon displays, evening replays of the moonwalk in the tent. Make it an event to remember, and get notice out to all the ROCtober youth groups (more for the 'learning' experience than for them to launch, but who knows?).
If we decide to go forward with this as a club, I'm happy to donate the web domains (if they're even wanted) - I just had kind of wanted to keep with the 'ROCstock' theme but have it kind of 'loony' (and the websites without the 2019 were already taken).
David Erbas-White
P.S. No one should take any of the above as any sort of criticism - I am in awe of the amount of work that goes into the club by both the board members, and those other members who go above-and-beyond the call of duty in keeping our club operating. The above is more of a 'recognition of reality vs. fantasy' than anything else.
What does everyone think about moving the normal July launch (July 13) to the following Sat., July 20th?
I dropped the ball on this as it was suggested to me many months ago. Its certainly not too late to plan this. I will make sure it's on the agenda for the next Board meeting And if it's a go, we'll start the process to adjust the FAA COA and BLM permit date.
Please respond to this thread as it will reflect just how much interest there is among everyone.
Thanks,
Mike Ostby,
President
On Mon, Dec 10, 2018, 11:49 AM R Dierking <applerocketry@xxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:applerocketry@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
At the meeting, David EW asked about having a waiver for July
20th next year. It will be a Saturday and the 50th anniversary
of the Apollo 11 landing on the Moon.
I didn’t say anything about this at the meeting, and I regret
that David. I hope the Board gets this done. I think others
support this as well.
Honestly, I’m disappointed that there wasn’t a ROC launch already
planned for that day and that NSL wasn’t going to be held then.
I’m speaking for myself; this is my opinion. I have a feeling
that many people don’t understand the importance of the past
space program which included Apollo and this particular
achievement. That is, how important it is to some people that
lived it. I started thinking this when I saw a suggestion for a
Saturn V drag race when holding NSL was announced. Please don’t
be offended, and I hope you understand that this thing is just
more significant to some people than others. For some of us, it
changed our lives in a big way.
Anyway, July 20th of next year is an important date. If others
want to celebrate the 50th anniversary on another day, that’s
cool and I hope it’s fun. BTW: you can see the info that NAR has
on their website about the 50th anniversary and what they hope
clubs are doing that day.
Richard Dierking
TRA 11366, L3
