Safe Rocketry

Safe Rocketry is practiced under a set of rules published by Rocketry organizations like the Tripoly Rocketry Association (TRA) and the National Association of Rocketry (NAR).

At the onset of the Space Race, following WW2, public interest in rockets took a sharp upturn. The first satellite, a Russian spacecraft named Sputick was orbiting the earth and transmitting a radio broadcast, beeping a steady pulse that anyone with an FM radio could hear.

Young people were trying to figure out how to fly rockets, and the results were sometimes deadly. They were using metal pipes as airframes and mixing fuel on the kitchen stove. In order to deal with this, some cleaver rocket scientists (including one G. Harry Stein) set about crafting safety rules, and eventually working out a source for commercial hobby rocket motors.

The result is a comprehensive set of safety guidelines for rocketry. These codes are not only published and maintained by NAR and TRA), they are codified in both FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and NFPA (National Fire Prevention Association) rules and procedures.

• [Tripoli Rocketry Association (TRA) Safety Code https://www.tripoli.org/safetycode]
• [National Association of Rocketry (NAR) Safety Code https://narocket.clubexpress.com/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=114127&module_id=669233]