Colorado Springs Rocketry Club keeps launching after major equipment theft

For Antonio Bartling, there are few more satisfying ways to spend a Saturday morning than launching rockets.

"It's amazing to see a rocket fly, especially if it's a rocket you built," said Bartling, 14. "The excitement of seeing your masterpiece fly into the air, and then come down in one piece ... it's hard to describe."

David Virga, president of the Colorado Springs Rocketry Club, is a bit older than Bartling. But when asked about launching rockets, he exhibits the same enthusiasm and sense of wonder.

"There's such an excitement in watching a model rocket blast off into the air," Virga said. "I'm not sure it's something you outgrow. I know I haven't."

Established in 1989, the rocketry club, known informally as COSROCS, organizes and supports rocketry-based educational endeavors in Colorado Springs and around the state, including STEAM-based outreach and community service efforts in several area schools and youth groups like 4-H and Cub Scouts.

Much of this is accomplished on a shoestring budget, according to club member Leslie Mann.

"We're not in it for the money," Mann said. "When you get kids involved in an activity that's really exciting for them, it's a big uplift for you too."

The club's efforts took a devastating blow the night of May 26, when someone driving a dark-colored SUV drove into the parking lot of the Challenger Learning Center, where COSROCS stored its equipment trailer, cut the locks off the trailer hitch, and drove off with it.

Club members didn't learn of the theft until 10 days later when Mann went to the Learning Center to retrieve something from the trailer and discovered that it was gone.

"They took all of our launch equipment that we use for the club launches, and for the school launches that we support," Mann said.

Because much of the club's equipment is hand-made, it's difficult to ascribe a monetary value to the stolen goods. But between the custom launch system, steel launch pad, safety equipment, and the trailer itself, Mann estimates the loss at about $10,000.

"That really impacted a lot of kids, and our ability to use rockets to educate them," he said.

After holding an emergency meeting to decide how to move forward, the club members decided that they would do whatever they could to continue their twice-monthly launches.

"We were never completely shut down," Virga said. We have a couple of club members who have their own launch systems, and we relied on those for a while."

Thanks to a generous gift from a local aerospace STEM organization and about $3,000 in GoFundMe donations, the club has replaced most of its equipment, including the trailer.

"We're doing pretty well," Virga said. "At this point, we consider ourselves about 90% recovered."

Because a model rocket launch is governed by the same principles of physics, chemistry and aerodynamics as a NASA-type launch, students can develop a working knowledge of how those large-scale systems work, Virga said.

"(Rocketry) is great education and inspiration for kids," he said. "That excitement can translate into improved academics and, possibly, a future career."

Bartling, who attends the Vanguard School, isn't yet certain what he wants to do when he grows up. But he's certain that it will have something to do with rockets.

"I don't necessarily have to be a rocket scientist," he said. "I just want to be near the process."

On a recent Saturday, outside the Challenger Learning Center, club members (wearing T-shirts that read, "As a matter of fact, I am a rocket scientist") made sure the launch area was clear and initiated a countdown. The whoosh of Bartling's rocket drew the attention of a girl in a nearby playground, and she called out to an unseen friend.

"Get down here!" the girl exclaimed. "They're doing rockets!"