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This coming Saturday, July 11, if the weather holds and the wind isn't too stiff-- there'll be some interesting action east of North Branch, at the site of the Tripoli MN Rocketry Club launch pads. The club gets together in a wide open field in rural North Branch, on the second Saturday of each month, and launches high power and a few not-so-high-power rockets. Visitors are welcome; but you need to be a club member and older than 18 years of age to launch any high-power rockets.

The day begins about 8 a.m. with set-up duties. Launches, weather permitting, can get underway anytime after about 9 a.m. Check the group's website the day of the event to see if weather conditions are affecting launch plans. (See www.tripolimn.org.) The national weather service Rush City Airport weather stats are updated daily at the website and this is what the club relies on for launch information.

During the second Saturday club event in June, the University of Minnesota "Balloon Team" launched a high altitude balloon that tracked south and east and was eventually retrieved near Wausau, Wisconsin.

The club encourages all levels of participation, from those doing research into rocketry to the rocket hobbysist, and everything in between.

No alcohol is allowed on the site. The field where the launches take place is located south of 400th and north of Hwy. 95, on Jeffrey Avenue at 395th.

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