Article: 0726
By Robert Braibish, November 2009

Braibish, Robert

NAR #88868 L1, OROC

Hi everyone!  I have been in rocketry since May of ’08.  A good friend in the hobby, Dan Carlson, lent me a rocket and I, my wife Christine, and our son Jacob (also very much into the hobby) went to the “Spring Thunder” launch in Brothers.  I saw my first HPR flight and launched Dan’s Binder Design “Spike” on a G64.  Man was I ever hooked!  I already had a busy summer planned and did not make it to another launch until September.  That weekend,  with my wife and son at my side, I launched my first mid-powered rocket, a Binder Designs “Aspire”. It’s second flight being my NAR Level 1 certification flight .  I guess you could say I am a Born Again Rocketeer (BAR) since my brothers and I launched model rockets as boys. 

I am currently working on a GLR “Talon 3” for my level 2 certification flight next May.  I took a slight “detour” from that project to attend Balls 18, and to design and build a rocket built almost exclusively from water bottles, aptly dubbed “The Bottle Rocket”.  I love the challenge of doing things differently and I can’t stand to be told “you can’t do that”.  At the ’09 Rocketober launch, heady from a successful Bottle Rocket launch on an I-285 I decided to give my level 2 certification flight a try on a J-350.  Unfortunately, I discovered a design flaw when my baby folded in half shortly after motor burnout.  But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.  I was disappointed but not surprised.  The bottle rocket will be back, and better than ever.  Though, I think my next certification attempt will be on rocket built with tried-and-true materials and methods.

I have a wide variety of hobbies and interests:  I love the outdoors and spending time with my family and always have an eye for adventure.  I enjoy camping, hiking, hunting, sailing, geocaching, astronomy, woodworking, music, reading, etymology, and Scouting (I am a leader in my sons Boy Scout Troop and an Eagle Scout myself).  To pay for all this fun stuff I work (as little as possible) as a mechanical designer for the engineering firm CH2M Hill – primarily on water and wastewater treatment facilities.

Submitted: 11/1/2009
Updated:  11/2/2009