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December 2008 Holiday Party (1/2/2009)
On Friday evening, December 19, more than 30 MASA-ites
gathered at the Chaska Community Center in the Sun Room for
the annual club holiday party. There were all sorts of potluck
goodies to eat. Plus, rockets and mementos to look at.
The party started around 6pm and ended around 9pm.
A big thanks to Lyle Merdan for arranging the use of
the room! Thanks to everyone who attended!
The annual MASA gift exchange game was once again a
fun time with more than 20 people participating.
2008 MASA Year in Review
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MASA's 10th Anniversary Year!
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9 meetings plus the summer picnic and winter
holiday party. Thanks to the meeting presenters:
Glen Overby, David Whitaker, Todd Schweim, and Rick Vatsaas
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Thanks to all the TARC mentors!
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12 club launches in 2008: 903+ flights, 1005+
engines burned, 22,136 N-s of total impulse. The total
number of MASA flights to date is over 9,000!
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MASA donated rockets to NARAM 50 for the "Fly-It
/ Take-It". Thanks to Carol Marple for organizing.
We'll also be donating rockets in 2009 for NARAM 51.
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The LAC trophy for best NAR section newsletter
was awarded to the MASA Planet. BIG thanks to editor Jeff
Taylor! (Jeff brought the trophy to display at the party.)
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Four MASA members - Caleb Boe, Carol Marple,
Jeff Taylor, and Mark Thell built Saturn 1b's for the Apollo 7
40th Anniversary event. Caleb and Carol got theirs back
because they were selected as two of the best three rockets at
the event. Congratulations! (Caleb and Carol both
brought their Saturn 1b's to display at the party.)
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Thanks to those who organized and ran contests
at club launches in 2008: Buzz McDermott, Andy Heren, and
Art Gibbens.
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NARCON 2008! For the second year in a row,
MASA hosted the national convention. The core staff were
Carol Marple, Jeff Taylor, Mark Thell, Ted Cochran, Alan
Estenson, David Donovan, and Andy Heren. Thanks also to
everyone who helped out at the convention!
2008 MASSY Awards
Following MASA tradition, club president Alan
Estenson presented a few awards and thank-you's.
A thank-you to Rick Vatsaas for his work as
Secretary/Treasurer. Rick was presented with a framed art
print of a vintage-style rocket.
A thank-you to Jeff Taylor for his work as MASA
Planet editor. Jeff was presented with a framed enlargement
lift-off photo of his 2008 kitbash rocket.
A thank-you to Carol Marple for her work as Vice
President and her stupendous job as NARCON 2008 Director.
Carol was presented with a framed photo of her with Vern & Gleda
Estes and a certificate of appreciation.
Rocketeer of the Year - presented to Caleb Boe.
Simply put, Caleb had quite the year. He was at pretty much
every MASA event. He was an active TARC team member. He
went to his first-ever NARAM and brought home some impressive medals
- including a 1st in B-division R&D. Plus, he was part of the
exclusive group who built Saturn 1b's for the Apollo 7 40th
Anniversary, and the even more exclusive group who got their rockets
back! Caleb was presented with a framed certificate of
appreciation, and an Apollo launch vehicles poster.
Congratulations!
Two Prang Awards were presented to the unlucky winners:
- Honorary Prang Award: Mark Thell, for his CATO of a
vintage Estes 2-stage Omega / Cineroc at NARAM 50, right in
front of Vern Estes (and everyone else)!
- Prang of the Year Award: Lyle Merdan's FlisKits
"Frick -n- Frack" on C6-0 to C6-0 at the August launch.
Lyle launched this 2-stage saucer as part of the annual Great
UFO Drag Race. It ignited, boosted, turned horizontally
into the 10mph wind, staged, and powered itself into the ground
right at the flight line (suffering minor damage). In
honor of this recognition, Lyle received the traveling Prang
Trophy (a copy of the William Shatner Estes video and the rocket
sand pail set) to hold for 2009.
[Mark Thell says "Thanks for the "honorary" PRANG award. You
mentioned that I CATOed my rocket in front of Vern Estes
himself. I asked Vern to push the button for me. I
had nothing to do with the damn thing CATOing !!!!! Vern
came up to me later and said he was sorry that it happened.
LOTS of other folks said the same thing."]
Free Door Prizes
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(The following prizes were donated by Hub
Hobby Center.)
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Ethan Erpelding - Estes Der Red Max kit
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Dwayne Shmel - Estes Rock-It kit
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Cindy Whitaker - Revell Nike Hercules plastic
model kit
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Nancy Schaffhausen - Estes ARV Condor kit
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Matthias Gibbens - Estes Sizzler kit
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Ted Cochran - Estes Nova Payloader kit
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Jeff Taylor - FlisKits Over Drive kit
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Alyssa Taylor - Semroc My Boid kit
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Philip Gibbens - Semroc My Boid kit
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Kathy McDermott - Quest QT Glider
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Carol Marple - DynaStar 36" parachute
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Renee Gibbens - pack of Estes B6-4 engines
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David Whitaker - pack of Quest B6-4 engines
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David Schaffhausen - pack of Quest B6-4 engines
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(The following prizes were donated by a
mystery rocketeer.)
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Art Gibbens - Quest SPEV UFO kit with C6-0
engines
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Amy Whitaker - Quest D5-0 engine
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McKenna Taylor - Estes Mosquito kit
Congratulations to the winners! (apologies if
I misspelled any names)
(Alan Estenson)
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