As a child I wondered and dreamed of space travel. The idea of leaving this planet and traveling by “rocketship” beckoned me to “draw near”. The space race of the mid 50s and beyond fueled my alter-reality. In 1969 my best friend introduced me to model rockets. I was hooked. I should have bought stock in Estes. That went on for a few years until I no longer had time. More important was my growing family (6 children), money, and staying gainfully employed. Roll forward 25 years. My youngest son is 7 and I decide to build a rocket with him. It was a twostage Estes Mongoose. It worked great except I kept leaving (losing) the sustainer on the roof of the plant where I was employed. We must have built 4 Mongeese over the next couple of years and as in the case of the first one, I lost them all. Roll forward another 10 years and I once again began building rockets, only bigger ones. I joined a group in Lafayette IN (Indiana Rocketry). There I met kindred spirits from whom I gleaned much information and guidance. Since then, I have been building ever larger rockets achieving Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 certifications. I’m retired now, with time to devote to what I thoroughly enjoy, building and flying rockets.
Dave Porter
TRA#12341
dave.porter@sbcglobal.net
