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	THEY’RE BAAACK!!!! DR EVIL AND MINI ME… THE ROCKETS About 5 years ago, we came across 2 Rocket Kits that caught our attention! We like to bring our students, unique rockets, to build and investigate. At that time, we constructed a Large Rocket, around 5 feet tall made out of Styrofoam cups with a piston engine that flew on a D-size engine! We then built the smaller version which stands a little more than 2 feet tall and is built in the same fashion. They flew super high! We named them after the Evil Duo, DR. EVIL and MINI ME Students really enjoy building MINI ME as the build is as uncustomary as the rockets! We have decided to bring MINI ME into our school program again! We are going to build a couple of DR. EVIL rockets with our Apprentices and launch them as well. They will probably end up in the Rocket ER as the original DR. EVIL did, but it will be a great experience for the Apprentices. We are working on dates with the schools to get that set up! Here are some pictures of these Rockets! If your school is one of the ones we are offering this program to *DON’T MISS OUT ON IT!* Neil's sidekick now has a name! The winner is: Spencer Kline of Pickett's Mill Es His name submission of "Duck Vader" was a hit with the judges! Spencer received an "Official" NASA lapel pin for his Creativity and Originality! Thank you everyone for your cool name submissions. We received around 200! WELCOME OUR NEW MASCOT.. NEIL EGGSTRONG and his little Sidekick Neil is our Egg-Stronaut who has flown many missions in the Great Egg Challenge. His bravery for sitting in a Nosecone being sent into space on so many missions goes unsurpassed. For being such an Egg-strodinary and Egg-Citing guy we have nominated him as our New Mascot! Look for Neil in our Newsletters! He is in charge of giving away cool stuff for Contests and keeping his little sidekick out of trouble! Poor little sidekick needs a name.. the name selected will win a special gift from our friends at NASA. Email your Name Suggestion to: liftoffga@gmail.com Winner announced Sept 15th Ps- thanks Stephen Hoffman for creating Neil for us! You are awesome! FAREWELL TO OUR PREVIOUS MASCOT "BUDDY" Buddy has decided to be a Pirate but says he is honored to have been the Liftoff Mascot! Good Luck to Buddy on his many new adventures! LIFTOFF ESTABLISHES CELL PHONE RECYCLING PROGRAM TO RAISE MONEY FOR SCHOOLS Many of us have received new cell phones for Holiday Gifts - our old phones usually just lay around the house till we just throw them out in the trash, eventually.. Unfortunately, the cell phones that are dumped into landfills created tons of toxins which are detrimental to our environment and our health. Liftoff has initiated a program with Chalker Elementary, Lewis, and Due West to collect and recycle old cell phones...the Company that we send the old phones to will cut a nice check out for the participating schools! The classes that get the most cell phone donations will win a Pizza Party from Liftoff! It is great to be able to ask Parents to simply donate their ,useless cell phones to help raise money for their school ; without asking Parents to spend money! A Win-Win Situation at its Best!! A HOLIDAY THANK YOU FOR OUR SOLDIERS IN IRAQ If you go to this web site, www.LetsSayThanks.com , you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and send it to a service person who is currently serving in Iraq . You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to a member of the armed services. How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! It is FREE and only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if our service men and women received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our soldiers need to know we are behind them. This takes just 10 seconds and it's a wonderful way to say thank you. Please take the time, and then pass it on to others. We can never say enough thank you's. FLYING SAUCER INVASION AT BOUNCE-U! We were invited to hold a Flying Saucer construction class at Bounce U's summer camp complete with launch! The campers had a great time! Thank you for inviting us! NAR MEMBERSHIP WINNERS!! EVERY YEAR IN THE SPRING WE GIVE AWAY 2 YEARLY MEMBERSHIPS TO THE NAR Check out our winners by visiting the tabs for: Ford News and Lewis News posted August 1, 2010 BUDDY HAS BEEN OUR MASCOT FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS AND IS RETIRING AS THE PAPARAZZI HAS BEEN RELENTLESS IN CAPTURING HIS CUTENESS! We wish Buddy and the Epstein family our best! Thank you for being such a Great Mascot! SEE PICTURES OF 'BUDDY' AND OTHER ENTRIES UNDER THE 'FUN STUFF' TAB! PLEASE WELCOME "BUDDY" OUR NEW MASCOT! We asked our students from our various schools to email a picture of their pet for the Liftoff! Mascot Search. We took all the pictures submitted and put them on a big board which we brought to the Wintrop Court Assisted Living Home. We had a tie -so we then asked our Kemp Egg Lofter Students to make the final vote. We want to thank you for submitting your pictures..we love them ALL! All these pet are just wonderful! Buddy's family are the Epstein's from Due West ELementary School! Here is our New Mascot, BUDDY! LAUNCH STATION INSTRUCTIONS AND INFORMATION We have just completed this year's "Build Your Own Launch Station" Classes at Chalker, Ford, Kemp, and Lewis Elementary. The kids absolutely LOVED constructing their Launch Pads and doing electrical work with wires, batteries, and connectivity. Every single Launch Control pad was tested by securing an Igniter to the end of the Alligator Clips to simulate what would occur on the Launch Pad with an Actual Rocket! As the Igniters "Burned", the kid's faces lit up! You can see from the many expression on the pictures we sent via Snapfish, and the few on the website how proud they were! Some of the more "seasoned" Rocketeers truly understood how the pad/control box works, but for some of the "newbies" who don't have as many Launches under their belts, below are some instructions. As with any equipment that has screws, wires, rods, etc. we encourage you to keep away from younger children (and pets)! Using your new launch equipment Stand the launch pad by splaying the legs in a clockwise direction as needed for a level, stable platform, and tighten wing nuts to lock into position. Install launch rod into 1/8” hole in top of triangle. Slide blast plate onto rod. Install engine into rocket or flying saucer. Install igniter into engine using plug supplied with engine & igniter. Place rocket or saucer onto launch pad by sliding launch rod into launch lug (typically a small straw) on side of rocket or saucer. Attach an alligator clip to each end of the igniter wire (make sure the clips do not touch each other or the blast plate). If necessary, a wooden clothes pin can be used to raise the rocket off the blast plate for clearance. All flying saucers will require this. Uncoil the wire to its full length for a safe distance from the rocket. Attach “safety key” (small chrome clip with orange streamer supplied with launch unit) to the long screws on the launch controller. Make sure the key in attached to both screws to complete the electrical circuit. Count down from 5 prior to pressing the aluminum plate on the controller firmly onto the screw underneath the plate. This will complete the connection to the igniter, and will launch the rocket. Simple troubleshooting If the rocket fails to fire, check the following. (These 1^st five are most common) 1. Check clips for secure connection to ignitor 2. Check to insure clips are not “grounded out” on each other. 3. Check to insure clips are not in contact with blast plate. 4. Check to insure clips are not in contact with metal launch rod. 5. Check ignitor to make sure the wire is unbroken. 6. Check batteries to make sure they are properly inserted into holder, and have sufficient charge to fire the ignitor. 7. Make sure safety key is securely attached to both long screws. 8. Make sure aluminum plate is being pressed firmly onto screw underneath. 9. Check to insure all wires are still connected properly