Rocket 'lunatics' flock to Blacksburg for launch event

By Jacob Demmitt jacob.demmitt@roanoke.com 381-8621 Jul 15, 2017



>Joe Hill, of Raleigh, N.C. (left), who sells Aerotech consumer products, Paul Schaefer, of Durham, N.C., who built this 12-foot model of a U.S. Army missile Nike Ajax with Michael Gunter (in red), prepare their rocket for launching on Saturday at Virginia Tech’s Kentland Farm during a New River Valley Rocketry Club sponsored two-day launch.

BLACKSBURG — Michael Gunter and Paul Schaefer spent two and a half years building a rocket for a flight that was intended to last just a few glorious seconds. ... Gunter, a 61-year-old from Roxboro, North Carolina, has been playing with rockets since the first grade.

“We’re two broken down veterans doing this thing in our back yard,” he said, sitting in front of his creation, which was by far the largest at a New River Valley Rocketry launch event on Saturday. “Hobbyist would probably be the right word for it. Lunatic is another word that comes to mind.”

The friends raised money to build their rocket, a model of a U.S. Army 1950s-era surface-to-air Nike Ajax, by selling food at these types of launch events. A single rocket can cost thousands of dollars. ... On Saturday, it was time for their maiden voyage.
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In total, about 70 rockets were successfully launched on Saturday. More will go up during the second day of the launch on Sunday. ... Virginia Tech allows the club to launch on its property at Kentland Farm, which the university frequently uses for its own research flights.
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Jacob Demmitt covers business and technology out of the New River Valley bureau.