Northern Illinois
Rocketry Association
Other Club Activities
NIRA encourages sport rocket flying of all types and does not have an overriding interest in any specific area of rocketry. NIRA members are involved in contest, sport, and high power flying.
Many of NIRA's members are active modelers who build accurate scale models of real commercial launch vehicles, military missiles, and research platforms. Ask around at any meeting or club launch to find the folks who know about scale modeling and how to get scale data.
Winter Activities
During the less hospitable months of December through March NIRA holds other activities in place of monthly club launches. We may have a Christmas party, visit a museum, or have some other group activity that is just for fun.
Most members use this downtime to add new rockets to the fleet or repair rockets from the previous season. You will see the best of the new additions at club meetings in April, May, and June.
We often conduct a build session at a member's home sometime in January, February, or March.
Demonstrations and Outreach
NIRA conducts demonstration launches for various youth programs such as Cub and Boy Scouts, YMCA groups, schools and airshow groups. Besides our scheduled Outreach launches we also respond on an ad hoc basis when called, and can always use more help on these fun events. See the contact list to determine who you can talk to about these events.
Competition
From 1981 through 1988, we were an active competition section with deep competition experience. At one time, we had six National age division champions as members. The club was crowned National Champion three years in a row, 1985-1987, long before Chicago's other sports dynasty. Since those 1980's championships we have flown several section meets.
Some members travel to contests in Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin. A small NIRA contingent always attends NARAM, the NAR's annual national championship. You can find out about upcoming contests and also see records of our recent contests.
Other Sport Launch Activities
NIRA is currently looking for a new venue for this event.
High Power Rocketry (HPR)
Since our local fields cannot support HPR our members generally attend the Central Illinois Aerospace (CIA) launches in Rantoul, Illinois or the Wisconsin Organization Of Spacemodeling Hobbyists (WOOSH) launches at Bong State Recreation Area in Wisconsin.
Many of our members are NAR or Tripoli Level 2 (J/K/L) certified and can assist people seeking HPR certification.