Gleda M. Estes, Wife of Vern Estes, has Passed

We are saddened to report that Gleda M. Estes, the wife of Vern Estes, has passed away at the age of 92. Vern and Gleda had been married 72 years.

Gleda, along with her husband Vern, founded the Estes Model Rocket Company back in 1958. She helped Vern with the book keeping and even sewed together some of the original Estes catalogs.

Gleda was a big proponent of using model rocketry for STEM, long before STEM was even thought of. She especially wanted to see girls participate in these activities and developed a scholarship program just for them, called appropriately, “The  Gleda M. Estes Scholarship.”

Estes has a memorial web page set up for Gelda at https://estesrockets.com/pages/gleda. You can read her full obituary at https://www.holtfamilyfuneralhome.com/obituary/Gleda-Estes.

2024 Estes Catalog Released

A short and quick post today to let you know that Estes has released their 2024 catalog. You can take a look at it over at https://estesrockets.wpengine.com/wp-content/uploads/catalogs/Catalog_2024_WEB.pdf.

At Ye Olde Rocket Forum, “turbofireball” posted the following list of new and discontinued kits/items in this catalog:

New items:

• Tri-Flyer Starter Set #0647
• Roto Rocket Starter Set #0648
• Olympus Mega Starter Set #0642 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Green Eggs Starter Set #9990 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Mini Alpha Launch Set #2458
• Mini Bertha Launch Set #2469
• Mini Max Launch Set #2445
• Star Hopper Launch Set #2427
• Long Ranger Kit #0814 (was Hobby Lobby exclusive)
• Roto Rocket Kit #1322
• Tri-Flyer Kit #1323
• Saturn V Kit #1969
• Mini Alpha Kit #2098
• Mini Bertha Kit #2099
• Mini Arcas Kit #2441
• Power Patrol Kit#2481 (rerelease)
• Vapor Kit #7294 (rerelease)
• Space Shuttle RTF #9991
• F15-4 Bulk Pack (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Launch Rail Launch Pad #2311 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• 100 lb. Aramid Cord #3140 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• 200 lb. Aramid Cord #3141 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• 300 lb. Aramid Cord #3142 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Pro Series Parts Assortment #9987 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Cosmic Ray Bulk Pack #1112 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• Cosmic Cargo Bulk Pack #1752 (available direct only, no hobby shops)
• D12-5 Bulk Pack #1786
• Mini Launch Pad & Controller #2244 (rerelease)
• Sanding Bar Sandpaper 180 Grit #2323
• Sanding Bar Sandpaper 300 Grit #2324
• Sanding Bar Sandpaper 400 Grit #2325

Discontinued items:

• Gnome Kit #0886
• Terra GLM Kit #7292
• Xtreme Kit #7306
• 220 Swift Kit #0810
• Mars Longship Kit #7296
• Gnome Bulk Pack #1749

Catalog error:

• MAV Rocket Kit incorrectly listed as #7297 (correct #7283)

See the full discussion about the new catalog at

https://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=22164

Looking for Martians

This past weekend on February 16, NASA announced they are looking for a few good Martians. It is all part of their Martian Simulation Mission that takes place in Houston, Texas. This is the second of three simulations, with this simulated mission expected to last a year. T four-person volunteer crew will be living and working inside a 1,700-square-foot, 3D-printed habitat. The habitat, called the Mars Dune Alpha, simulates the challenges of a mission on Mars, including resource limitations, equipment failures, communication delays, and other environmental stressors. Crew tasks include simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, exercise, and crop growth. Crew selection will follow the general NASA astronaut guidelines.

You can read more about the requirements at https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/martians-wanted-nasa-opens-call-for-simulated-yearlong-mars-mission. You can read about the program CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) at https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/chapea/.

Lastly, NASA has released a short video about the program

A Site Update

You may have noticed that this past week we weren’t able to update the site as usual. As is often the case life has a way of getting in the way of our hobbies, in this case rocketry and our current web site. There isn’t anything wrong, its just that other issues recently needed to take priority over rocketry.

We are not shutting down the site. In fact there are several projects that we are working on that we want to get published here. We do anticipate that we will be able to get back to our regular publishing regime at some point in the future. Until then, you may find that our postings are not as frequent, and occur on days outside our regular schedule.

We hope you will stick with us until we are back to normal. Until then, there is still a lot of information here on the site. If you are new, take this time to look back on some of our earlier articles.

Thanks!

What Happens to Your Rockets When You Die?

This subject came up recently over at “Ye Olde Rocket Forum” as [shockwaveriderz] asked, “What happens to your Rocketry Collection when you die?” (https://forums.rocketshoppe.com/showthread.php?t=21479). Here is part of his post:

This is something I’ve been wondering about for quite some time. I personally only have a small old BG/RG collection. I primarily just collect information like photos,.pdf’s,etc. I literally have 1,000’s. But when I pass away, most everything that I do have will end up in the landfill…

The reason I’m asking this, I was absent from the rocketry scene from around 2008-9 till 3 years ago. In that time a number of people passed away, like Micromeister, and lately Doug Sams and Roy Green…

But I wondered, what happened to all their rocketry stuff? Did they leave a will for its disposal? And what about you? what plans do you have in place for your collection, whether it be old models and motors or just old catalogs? Have you made any specific plans on how your wife, husband, sons, daughters, etc will dispose of this?

It is an interesting question, as with a lot of hobbies you tend to collect a lot of stuff over the years. And a niche hobby such as this can result is a lot of stuff others view simply as ‘junk’.

There seems to be four different areas to look at when it comes to our hobby collection. The first is the models we have built. All of those that you spent hours building and detailing. Who would want your models?

The second is the kits you haven’t built yet. The kits that are still in boxes and bags. What if some of these kits are old and might have some resale value. How will some family member who is not into the hobby be able to decide what’s worth selling and what goes into the dumpster?

Then the third area is the tools we have collected over time. Some are general purpose tools that others may want, such as knives and air brushes. But what about specialty tools, like mandrels and fin alignment guides. Sometimes we have tools that cross over into other hobbies, such as 3D printers or electronics. How do we decide where that stuff goes?

The final area is documents. Some are physical documents such as books and newsletters. Others are only virtual and stored on computer hard drives. Do you have anything historic? How would a family member know? We know computer security is a priority, but can a family member or spouse even log into your computer to see what is there? This has ramifications far beyond just our hobby, especially if financial or other important documents are stored on your computer.

Of course, model rocketeers aren’t the only ones thinking about this. I enjoy watching Adam Savage’s “Tested” YouTube channel, and just recently he also was asked by a viewer the same basic question. What do you do with all the stuff you have collected? I’ll post a copy of that video below.

So have you thought about this topic? Have you made any plans for what will happen to your collection, both physical objects and the numerous papers, pictures and videos we all have on our computers? Let us know what your plans are in the comments.