Vernon Estes (usually referred to as Vern), born January 4, 1930, is the founder and namesake of Estes Industries, the highly recognized model rocket production company, headquartered in Penrose, Colorado.
In 1957, G. Harry Stine and Orville Carlisle founded the first model rocket company, Model Missiles Incorporated, in Denver, Colorado. By 1959, the demand for rocket engines was too great for their production capabilities, so they sought out an external supplier. The Estes family business was the first fireworks company listed in the Denver phone book. Their son, Vern, took it upon himself to find a way to mechanize the production of rocket engines. He assembled a machine which he named "Mabel," capable of producing a rocket engine every 5.5 seconds. The machine was powered by compressed air and hydraulics, which was a much safer choice than electricity.
Model Missiles, Inc. was forced to fold due to a number of unwise business decisions. Although a model rocketry supplier had disappeared, the market still existed, and Estes formed his own company, Estes Industries, to fill this market. His first kit was the Astron Scout, a simple design that was so small it fit inside the cardboard tubes used for shipping rocket engines.
In 1961, Estes moved his company to a 77-acre (310,000 m2) facility near Penrose, Colorado. Although he sold his interest in Estes Industries in 1969, he remains active in model rocketry and occasionally attends launch events.
He also helped start the National Association of Rocketry, and also helped make the Model Rocket Safety Code.[ citation needed ]
A rocket is a projectile that spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicles use to obtain thrust from a rocket engine. Rocket engine exhaust is formed entirely from propellant carried within the rocket. Rocket engines work by action and reaction and push rockets forward simply by expelling their exhaust in the opposite direction at high speed, and can therefore work in the vacuum of space.
A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Chinese, Indians, Mongols and Persians, as early as the 13th century.
A model rocket is a small rocket designed to reach low altitudes and be recovered by a variety of means.
Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) was an American aerospace, defense, and sporting goods company with its headquarters in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States. The company operated in 22 states, Puerto Rico, and other countries. ATK's revenue in the 2014 fiscal year was about US$4.78 billion.
Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systems (MITS) was an American electronics company founded in Albuquerque, New Mexico that began manufacturing electronic calculators in 1971 and personal computers in 1975.
Orbital Sciences Corporation was an American company specializing in the design, manufacture and launch of small- and medium- class space and rocket systems for commercial, military and other government customers. In 2014 Orbital merged with Alliant Techsystems to create a new company called Orbital ATK, Inc., which in turn was purchased by Northrop Grumman in 2018. The remnants of the former Orbital Sciences Corporation today are a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman known as Northrop Grumman Space Systems.
Estes Industries is a model rocket company that was started in Denver, Colorado, USA. The company was the first to mass-produce model rocket engines with consistent and reliable performance. It is popular among hobbyists of experimental amateur rocketry for its simple and easily accessible engines, accessories, and rocket-building kits.
Aerojet was an American rocket and missile propulsion manufacturer based primarily in Rancho Cordova, California, with divisions in Redmond, Washington, Orange and Gainesville in Virginia, and Camden, Arkansas. Aerojet was owned by GenCorp. In 2013, Aerojet was merged by GenCorp with the former Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne to form Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The Production Association Yuzhny Machine-Building Plant named after A.M. Makarov, PA Pivdenmash or PA Yuzhmash is a Ukrainian state-owned aerospace manufacturer. It produces spacecraft, launch vehicles (rockets), liquid-propellant rockets, landing gears, castings, forgings, tractors, tools, and industrial products. The company is headquartered in Dnipro, and reports to the State Space Agency of Ukraine. It works with international aerospace partners in 23 countries.
George Harry Stine was one of the founding figures of model rocketry, a science and technology writer, and a science fiction author.
Safran S.A. is a French multinational aircraft engine, rocket engine, aerospace-component and defense company. It was formed by a merger between the aircraft and rocket engine manufacturer and aerospace component manufacturer group SNECMA and the security company SAGEM in 2005. In 2018 Safran took control of Zodiac Aerospace, significantly expanding its aircraft equipment activities. Its headquarters are located in Paris. Employing over 95,000 people and generating 24.64 billion euros in sales in 2019, Safran operates in the aircraft propulsion and equipment, space and defense markets. The company is listed on the Euronext stock exchange and is part of the CAC 40 and Euro Stoxx 50 indices.
Orville H. Carlisle, a shoe salesman in Norfolk, Nebraska invented the hobby that would become known as model rocketry.
The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is an American trade association representing manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, UAVs, space systems, aircraft engines, missiles, material, and related components, equipment, services, and information technology in the United States. It also co-sponsors, with the National Association of Rocketry, the America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), an annual competition for high school students. Member companies also give awards and scholarships to top placing teams at the TARC national finals each year and it is funded through sponsoring companies. AIA also develops the manufacturing standards called National Aerospace Standards which are available to aerospace manufacturers that conform to United States Military Standard's for equipment manufacturing and provide standards for other various components.
Cox Models, a former division of Estes Industries of Penrose, Colorado, was a multimillion-dollar hobby company, is one of the hobby industry's oldest companies and is noted for its production of miniature model internal-combustion engines.
The Main Missile and Artillery Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to by its transliterated Russian acronym GRAU (ГРАУ), is a department of the Russian (ex-Soviet) Ministry of Defense. It is subordinate to the Chief of Armament and Munition of the Russian Armed Forces, a vice-minister of defense.
North Coast Rocketry was a model rocket company founded in Ohio by Chris Pearson and Matt Steele, with Dan Kafun added as a partner in 1989.
Helmut Gröttrup was a German engineer, rocket scientist and inventor of the smart card. During World War II, he worked in the German V-2 rocket program under Wernher von Braun. From 1946 to 1953 he headed a group of 170 German scientists who were forced to work for the Soviet rocketry program under Sergei Korolev. After returning to West Germany in December 1953, he developed data processing systems and contributed to early commercial applications of computer science. In 1967 Gröttrup invented the basic principles of the smart card as a forgery-proof "key" for secure identification and access control.
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 and Robert Parks ; Technical Editor Douglas J. Malewicki ; Business Managers George J. Caporaso, Jerome Apt, III, Thomas T. Milkie, and Arthur H. (Trip) Barber ; Technical Correspondent George J. Caporaso ; Distribution Managers Thomas T. Milkie, Kevin P. Brown, and Steven Glines ; and Art Director Thomas T. Milkie. 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.
A monocopter or gyropter is a rotorcraft that uses a single rotating blade. The concept is similar to the whirling helicopter seeds that fall from some trees. The name gyropter is sometimes applied to monocopters in which the entire aircraft rotates about its center of mass as it flies. The name "monocopter" has also been applied to the personal jet pack constructed by Andreas Petzoldt.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to rocketry: