''Model Rocketry'' was an American hobbyist magazine published from October 1968 to February 1972. The Editor and Publisher was George J. Flynn and the Managing Editor was Gordon K. Mandell. Other members of the editorial and business staffs, some of whom held several positions at various times during the years the magazine was published, were Assistant Editors Robert B. Singer (November 1969 to November 1971) and Robert Parks (July 1970 to February 1972); Technical Editor Douglas J. Malewicki (November 1969 to February 1972); Business Managers George J. Caporaso (October 1968 to August 1969), Jerome Apt, III (Jay Apt) (September 1969 to December 1970), Thomas T. Milkie (January to November 1971), and Arthur H. (Trip) Barber (December 1971 to February 1972); Technical Correspondent George J. Caporaso (September 1969 to February 1972); Distribution Managers Thomas T. Milkie (October 1968 to October 1969), Kevin P. Brown (November 1969 to December 1970), and Steven Glines (January 1971 to February 1972); and Art Director Thomas T. Milkie (November and December 1969). The magazine was published by Model Rocketry, Inc., a closely held corporation owned by founding staff members George J. Flynn, Gordon K. Mandell, George J. Caporaso, and Thomas T. Milkie and members of their families. Its paid circulation reached 15,000 by 1970. The launch of

Sputnik Sputnik 1 (, , ''Satellite 1''), sometimes referred to as simply Sputnik, was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space progra ...

in 1957 and the

space race The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between t ...

to the Moon made

model rocketry A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes (e.g., for a model) and #Model rocket recovery methods, be recovered by a variety of means. According to the United States National Association of Rocketry, National Associati ...

a popular hobby. ''Model Rocketry'' magazine was started at the height of the

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

. Each issue had plans and instructions for constructing rockets typically powered by black powder rocket motors such as those made by

Estes Industries Estes Industries is a model rocket company that was started in Denver, Colorado, USA. History Estes Industries was founded by Vernon Estes in 1958; in 1961, the company moved to a 77-acre tract of land on the outskirts of Penrose, Colorado. I ...

. There were also technical articles on model rocket design that would include several pages of theory and equations. There was a series of articles starting in October 1969 on writing FORTRAN programs to calculate flight parameters. The magazine also covered model rocketry clubs' launch meets and contests. From August 1969 to February 1972 ''Model Rocketry'' incorporated ''The Model Rocketeer'', the official journal of the National Association of Rocketry. The September 1969 issue of ''Model Rocketry'' shown at the right has a typical cover design and contents. The cover photo shows the launch of a model rocket approximately 2 feet (61 cm) tall with a small camera as the payload. The camera will take a photo after the rocket reaches its apogee and starts its descent with a parachute. This issue also has construction plans for an egg lofting rocket, a type of rocket used in competitions to see how high an egg could be launched and recovered without cracking. The topics on the cover include

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 was a spaceflight conducted from July 16 to 24, 1969, by the United States and launched by NASA. It marked the first time that humans Moon landing, landed on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module pilot Buzz Aldrin l ...

and the issue includes a six-page article by the Managing Editor, Gordon Mandell, about the first human mission to land on the Moon.

Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems

In July 1969, Publisher George Flynn attended the Southwestern Model Rocket Conference at Eastern New Mexico University. There he met Air Force Captain Forrest Mims, senior advisor to the Albuquerque Model Rocket Club. Mims told Flynn about a transistorized lamp flasher for tracking night launched rockets. He also described modulating Light Emitting Diodes to transmit data from the rocket to infrared detectors on the ground. Flynn invited Mims to write an article about his "Transistorized Tracking Light for Night Launched Model Rockets" and it was published in the September 1969 issue of ''Model Rocketry''. Mims was stationed at

Kirtland Air Force Base Kirtland Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base. It is located in the southeast quadrant of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, urban area, adjacent to the Albuquerque International Sunport. The base was named for the early Army aviator C ...

in Albuquerque NM with a fellow officer, Ed Roberts. They decided to form a company to sell electronic kits for projects like the tracking light. Mims, Roberts and two other coworkers formed

Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems, Inc. (MITS), was an American electronics company founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico that began manufacturing electronic calculators in 1971 and personal computers in 1975. Ed Roberts (computer engineer ...

(MITS) in late 1969. The press release announcing the formation of MITS was published in the December 1969 issue of ''Model Rocketry''. In January 1975 MITS introduced the

Altair 8800 The Altair 8800 is a microcomputer introduced in 1974 by Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) based on the Intel 8080 CPU. It was the first commercially successful personal computer. Interest in the Altair 8800 grew quickly after i ...

computer and the personal computer revolution was launched.

Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...

and

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American businessman, computer programmer, and investor. He co-founded Microsoft, Microsoft Corporation with his childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which was followed by the ...

moved to Albuquerque in 1975 to write

Altair BASIC Altair BASIC is a discontinued interpreter for the BASIC programming language that ran on the MITS Altair 8800 and subsequent S-100 bus computers. It was Microsoft's first product (as Micro-Soft), distributed by MITS under a contract. Altair B ...

and soon started

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. Several copies of ''Model Rocketry'' magazine and the prototype tracking light are on display at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in their "STARTUP: Albuquerque and the Personal Computer Revolution" exhibit. Mr. Mims donated his MITS 816 calculator, Altair 8800 computer, early MITS documents and unsold model rocket telemetry kits to the Smithsonian

National Museum of American History The National Museum of American History: Kenneth E. Behring Center is a historical museum in Washington, D.C. It collects, preserves, and displays the heritage of the United States in the areas of social, political, cultural, scientific, and m ...

References

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External links

Complete set of ''Model Rocketry'' magazines in PDF format.MITS story, New Mexico Museum of Natural History and ScienceDetails of the rocket tracking light. DigiBarn Computer MuseumForrest Mims's Altair 8800 Microcomputer at the Smithsonian
Model rocketry Defunct hobby magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1968 Magazines disestablished in 1972 Monthly magazines published in the United States Defunct magazines published in Massachusetts