FOR the past several years, one interesting and steadily growing little club has been getting together regularly on weekends to reach into the skies. Their unique hobby is affordable, infectious and very easy for beginners, even though in this case, for once, it actually is rocket science.

“I got interested in rocketry when I went to the US in 2002,” says Canberra Rocketry Group (CRG) president Nev Blyth.

“It was a work trip and I had a bit of time on my hands, so I went to a local hobby shop and I came across these hobby rockets.”

Model rocketry combines the craft of model-making with the brief excitement of the launch, and the enjoyment of watching a carefully planned sequence of events fall into place.

“The theory is you set these things up to launch and they will travel more or less vertically to an apogee – the top of the curve – where they should pop in half, deploy a parachute and descend underneath it to be recovered, repacked and reused,” says Nev.

“The small ones are great for beginners, and the thing is, it appeals to a broad spectrum, kids particularly. They like the excitement and the apprehension, and the euphoria when it all goes right, and it’s very much something that you can enjoy in that simple way, or you can apply a lot of science to it.”

He explains the rockets are made from very light materials, often cardboard, and the motors are all safely made by licensed manufacturers and fired electronically from a safe distance, so when things go wrong, it’s more entertaining than it is dangerous.

“Like an aeroplane, these things have their own aerodynamics so they can be beautifully stable and fly like an arrow, like a dart, or if you build them wrong and get the balance of the weight wrong, they’ll be unstable and they’ll fly randomly all over the sky.”

Back home from his work trip to the US, the self-described “aviation and aerospace geek” got his hands on his first kit, built the rocket and launched it from an oval.

This satisfyingly spectacular experience led him to seek a local group of model rocketeers he could enjoy his newfound hobby with, but there wasn’t one so, starting with a website, Nev went about setting up a club and other local rocketeers slowly came out of the woodwork.

The CRG is now an incorporated association which holds regular launch days at two rural properties, one near Yass and another for more advanced, higher-powered launches near the town of Ardlethan, a couple of hours further out the same way.

Much of the addictive fun of rocketry is captured well in photos and videos that can be seen on the CRG website and Facebook page, but getting the group to the stage it’s at now took a lot of work.

The breakthrough came when the Australian Rocketry Association (ARA) called Nev “out of the blue”. CRG is now a part of the ARA, which covers members with public liability insurance of up to $20 million, deals with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and provides standard advice and safety guidelines.

Nev encourages anyone – of any age – who wants to try rocketry to get in contact and come out to a day of launches, adding that the kits start from about $20.

Serious hobbyists can take rocketry incredibly far, to the point of spending thousands of dollars and reaching several kilometres in height, attaching payloads such as digital cameras and tracking equipment.

CRG’s treasurer and armourer, Mark Bottomley, says he recently sent one of his bigger rockets to well over a kilometre, and the group is definitely hatching plans to go higher.

More information from members.ozemail.com.au/~blythnr/canberra_rocketry/ or see Canberra Rocketry Group on Facebook.