Rocket Man Rod Schafer

Rod Schafer dreamed of becoming an astronaut since he was twelve years old and participated in the Shuttle Program. He planned to go into the Air Force but an accident at the age of fifteen caused him to lose part of his hand. Because of this, he was unable to join the service. Rod wanted to pursue something that would enable him to use some of the same skills and precision so he did the next best thing. He decided to go into building and launching model rockets. Sport rocketry has been likened to aerospace engineering, just a little smaller.

That was eighteen years ago. Today, Rod is the President of the Pittsburgh Space Command and a member of the National Association of Rocketry Team Pittsburgh #473. He has also won numerous local and national championships.

Rod puts in about 20-25 hours a week during the winter, which is the building season. During summer he puts in many more hours launching rockets and preparing for competitions. In addition to this, Rod works for the Burrell School District and does rocketry program for sixth graders there. He brings in his models and talks about the different aspects of rocketry.

Rod's work table

The rockets are made of balsa wood and a lot of paper. Because the model rockets are so lightweight, a launch tower has to be used to help guide it up into the air. In addition to rockets, he also flies Flex Wings. They are flexible gliders made from basswood and plastic garbage can liners. They are judged by the duration that they stay in the air. The wings catch the hot air and spiral and circle. He has won some first places in this area and one time a glider stayed up in the air for fifty-eight minutes!

This has also proved to be a way that Rod can spend quality family time with his wife Marilyn and his sons Zachary and Tyler. Zachary is able to go to the competitions with him and three-year-old Tyler is there to cheer him on.

If you would like to find out more about the sport of rocketry go to http://www.nar.org>www.nar.org