NARCON in 2021

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Richard Dierking said:
Makes sense that people would like it fairly close to them. I wish it was just close enough to drive to. I'm in Southern California, so east coast would be a no-go for me. But, I understand; it moves around.
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i used to live in central California, but I moved. Though calif is awesome
 
Lot's of open space in Central California. Here too in SoCal with the high desert but still have to travel pretty far for launches. My trip to Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) takes me about 3 1/2 hours one way if traffic is kind.
I've got my fingers crossed that someday there will be a NAR or TRA launch/event at SpacePort America (hint-hint). Currently, there are just university competition rocket events there.
 
Richard Dierking said:
Lot's of open space in Central California. Here too in SoCal with the high desert but still have to travel pretty far for launches. My trip to Friends of Amateur Rocketry (FAR) takes me about 3 1/2 hours one way if traffic is kind.
I've got my fingers crossed that someday there will be a NAR or TRA launch/event at SpacePort America (hint-hint). Currently, there are just university competition rocket events there.
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Yeah, beautiful place, sadly I had to move, but in NJ we do have a lot of beautiful farms, and many of these are large enough for High Altitude rockets!
 
NJ sounds interesting. To be honest, I really didn't know anything about it until I did some searching. Jersey Shore looks cool. But, I can't even find info on airline flights because of the current restrictions. Looking forward to the beginning of next year when there's immunity and a vaccine. We might have to wait until then before the location of NARCON is chosen.
 
Having been part of the group that organized the 2018 version of NARCON in Houston, I can shed some light on how the site for the event is selected. Over the past several years, the NAR has learned that NARCON attendance shoots way up if the event is held somewhere close to a aerospace history museum. Here are a few examples:

2014: Cocoa Beach (Kennedy Space Center)
2015: Seattle (Museum of Flight)
2016: Dayton (National Museum of the US Air Force)
2017: Northern Virginia (National Air & Space Museum)
2018: Houston (Space Center Houston)
2019: Cocoa Beach, again (Kennedy Space Center)
2020: Tucson (Pima Air Museum)

If your club is near a prominent aerospace museum and is willing to do the legwork to host the event, chances are that the NAR will award your section a bid to do so. During idle conversation at NARCON this past March during beerlofting we informally identified the following aerospace museums we would like to visit, and which might make good sites for future events:

Huntsville (Space & Rocket Center)
Los Angeles (California Science Center)
San Diego (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
Dallas (Frontiers of Flight Museum)
Hampton, VA (Virginia Air & Space Center/Wallops Island)

This list is in no way official or complete, but rather a wish list of sites that were mentioned while drinking adult beverages following the official events this year at NARCON. I see a desire for some to hold the event in New Jersey. Is there a nearby aerospace museum or site that might be of interest?

James
 
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James Duffy said:
Having been part of the group that organized the 2018 version of NARCON in Houston, I can shed some light on how the site for the event is selected. Over the past several years, the NAR has learned that NARCON attendance shoots way up if the event is held somewhere close to a aerospace history museum. Here are a few examples:

2014: Cocoa Beach (Kennedy Space Center)
2015: Seattle (Museum of Flight)
2016: Dayton (National Museum of the US Air Force)
2017: Northern Virginia (National Air & Space Museum)
2018: Houston (Space Center Houston)
2019: Cocoa Beach, again (Kennedy Space Center)
2020: Tucson (Pima Air Museum)

If your club is near a prominent aerospace museum and is willing to do the legwork to host the event, chances are that the NAR will award your section a bid to do so. During idle conversation at NARCON this past March during beerlofting we informally identified the following aerospace museums we would like to visit, and which might make good sites for future events:

Huntsville (Space & Rocket Center)
Los Angeles (California Science Center)
San Diego (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
Dallas (Frontiers of Flight Museum)
Hampton, VA (Virginia Air & Space Center/Wallops Island)

This list is in no way official or complete, but rather a wish list of sites that were mentioned while drinking adult beverages following the official events this year at NARCON. I see a desire for some to hold the event in New Jersey. Is there a nearby aerospace museum or site that might be of interest?

James
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Yes, A known one is Naval Air station museum in Cape May NJ. There is also a Naval engineering airfield in Lakehurst NJ, where the Hindenburg unfortunately crashed.
 
Geez, how can you convince going to some other place than Hawaii for a conference. :cool: Would my wife even believe me? If you have it there, everybody plan on at least two airline tickets!

First, I'm in Southern California not New Mexico, but how about there? You are probably in a much better position to approach clubs there than me.

But, FLARE #577 is in Las Cruces, NM. Their number suggests the section has been around awhile. If they were not that big of club, there's a Albuquerque Rocket Society and a SpacePort Model Rocket Club. And, there's a Tripoli Las Cruces that may be willing to help. You may be able to arrange the conference at SpacePort America, or at least a tour.

The SpacePort America visitor center is in Las Cruces. Then, there's White Sands on the way to Alamogordo and the New Mexico Museum of Space History. The White Sands Missile Range Museum and the National Park is awesome. Lot's of opportunities to see cool aerospace sites. And, New Mexico is just kind of South-West, so not too bad of a drive or flight.
 
Richard Dierking said:
First, I'm in Southern California not New Mexico, but how about there? You are probably in a much better position to approach clubs there than me.
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The Las Cruces club hosted a very successful NARCON 8-10 years ago (I forget the specific year). A repeat event there would be entirely appropriate!

It really isn't a matter of some random schlub (like me) approaching a club to make it happen. The push really needs to come from within the club. I know that at least one member of DART has mused on the possibility.

As a self-described newbie, do not discount your ability to contribute or even run an event such as NARCON. New ideas tend to come from new people, right? Our club, AARG, hosted NARCON in 2002 less than four years after the club was created.

James
 
And FLARE in association with the Alamogordo club (SMRA) hosted NSL in 2017, along with White Sands and Holloman AFB sled track tours. It appears that SMRA is now defunct, however....
 
James Duffy said:
I would be totally down with a NARCON in Hawaii.
One thing that should be mentioned is that NARCON is traditionally a non-flying event held in the winter, so there is no requirement to provide a flying field.
James
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I asked and the big guns on the USS Missouri no longer fire. However, you can rent the ship for events.
https://ussmissouri.org/events/special-events#
They do have RC air shows on Ford Island once a year.
 
rklapp said:
I asked and the big guns on the USS Missouri no longer fire. However, you can rent the ship for events.
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My wife and I attended a private event on aft deck of the Missouri a little over eight years ago. It was extraordinary, among the most remarkable evenings of my life. I'm told our little soiree for ~250 people cost about a quarter million dollars. I doubt the NAR has that kind of cheese hidden in the back of the larder.

NARCON need not be elaborate. All the event needs is a hotel with meeting rooms and something cool nearby to go see (like a museum, or the Missouri).

James
 
James Duffy said:
Hampton, VA (Virginia Air & Space Center/Wallops Island)
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Wallops is about 2 hours away from the Virginia Air and Space Center and will require going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, $14 toll. The Wallops visitor center also has reduced hours outside the summer months.
 
Since NARCON is typically a non-flying event, it seems like locations with good launch sites should be saved for NSL and NARAM.

Anybody been to https://www.nps.gov/mimi/index.htm and would that be an option?

NARCON often gains special tour access. The LA area might enable getting bus tours of JPL and NASA Armstrong/Edwards AFB.
 
Here's an update to the list based on input so far:

Huntsville (Space & Rocket Center/NASA Marshall)
Los Angeles (California Science Center/SpaceX Hawthorne)
San Diego (San Diego Air & Space Museum)
Dallas (Frontiers of Flight Museum)
Hampton, VA (Virginia Air & Space Center)
Pueblo (Weisbrod Aircraft Museum, also Estes Industries)
Denver (Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum)
Las Cruces (White Sands/NM Museum of Space History)
Lancaster/Victorville, CA (Edwards AFB/NASA Armstrong/Mojave Spaceport)
Pasadena, CA (NASA JPL)
McMinnville, OR (Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum)
Detroit (Henry Ford Museum)
Northern DC/Maryland (NASA Goddard)
Central NJ (NATF Lakehurst)
New Orleans (NASA Michoud/Stennis Space Center)

After running NARCON a few years ago Ed LaCroix suggested that I write up a little "How To Run NARCON" guide for future prospective event directors. This conversation may spur me into actually doing that little task. BTW, if your club is interested in running NARCON (or any national event) Ed is the guy to whom you need to speak.

James
 
I'd like to see a Space Shuttle someday. After watching the Dragon Crew, the SS seems so antiquated now. In the Dragon, Bob said they slept well because the ventilation is improved over the shuttle without the (floating) CO2 pockets causing congestion while sleeping. Can you imagine?

https://www.nasa.gov/topics/shuttle_station/features/shuttle_map.html
 
I think the Kansas Cosmosphere is should be added to the list.
https://cosmo.org/
If given the choice, there is a history of rotating the event between East Coast, Midwest, and West Coast so there is some chance that NARCON will be close to members that have a limited travel budget.
 
I haven't attended a NARCON before. Is the hosting club compensated for the venue? Is there a banquet? How many days is it typically?

Steve, did you see that I suggested that perhaps a local TRA club might help as well? ;-)
 
I’ve used the conference rooms at the Barking Sands Missile Range (PMRF) for OSHA training. They’d probably let us use it for free if I asked. Hotels in Kauai are pricey but you get what you pay for.
 
Hawaii Is a good place to host a NARCON, You've got a lot of historical significance, but first, you might wanna make sure it is a little into the winter or outside of the Tourist Season (Summer). If you host it inside the tourist season there may be a lot of overbooked flights. Now with our current situation at hand if it all clears up by Early 2021 ( January-Feb) The Tourist season may or may not start up, but its good to take that into account
 

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