The rain never let up, but that didn’t stop the excitement of the attendees to the Rockets & Gold: Poker Flat Research Range Open House. The event, scheduled from 4 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, July 19, drew more than 200 people who toured lower range facilities, built rockets, learned about unmanned aircraft and the history of Poker Flat.

Staff was surprised with the community response. The range’s administrative building was full before 4 p.m. with folks eager to hear Neal Brown discuss the history of the range and, at times, traffic was backed up five cars deep to reach the parking area. The model rockets were all constructed by 6 p.m. and family’s walked through the rain to reach stations at the Balloon Inflation Building, Launch Pad 3, the Blockhouse and the Payload Assembly Building.

Range staff and the Public Relations team were assisted by a number of volunteers. A big thank you to all of the individuals listed below:

Greg Walker, PFRR

Kathe Rich, PFRR

Rayjan Wilson, PFRR

Kevin Abnett, PFRR

Sam Burger, PFRR

Jason Avila, PFRR

Tony Tyree, PFRR

Stevie Seibert, GI PR

Kaz Alvarez, GI PR

Dolores Baker, GI Ops

Jeff Rothman, GI Electronics Shop/PFRR

Jessica Garron, GI/ASF

Neal Brown, retired GI/PFRR

Santosh Panda, GI grad student

Tara Craft, graduate student

Vicky Espinoza, Atmos. Sci. REU student from University of Chicago

Julian Childs-Walker, Atmos. Sci. REU student from Carleton College

Dillon Amaya, Atmos. Sci. REU student from Texas A&M

John Cooney, Atmos. Sci. REU student from University of Dayton

Reid Strickler, Atmos. Sci. REU student from University of North Carolina, Charlotte

Hannah Ross, Atmos. Sci. REU student from Tennessee Tech

Brenna Carlson

PHOTO CAPTION/CREDIT: Jessica Garron, a science consultant at the Alaska Satellite Facility and GI Education group member, provides a rocketry demonstration to excited youth in the soggy conditions at the Rockets & Gold: Poker Flat Research Range Open House on July 19, 2012. Photo by A. Hartley.