New Lenox Cub Scouts launch model rockets

NEW LENOX – From the moment the fourth model rocket left the launch area Saturday afternoon, even a first-time observer could see there was trouble. An inordinate amount of thrust had sent the thing yawing, pitching and rolling all over Francis Field in New Lenox.

The other rockets had ascended high enough to be lost from sight until they fluttered back to the ground with the aid of a plastic parachute and were retrieved by the eager Cub Scouts of Pack 94. This one veered toward the barn and rows of parents sitting in nearby lawn chairs, and buried itself within the field markings used for football.

The attention of every Scout, parent and visitor turned to the young aerospace engineer who’d pressed the button to send his project soaring and watched it crash down immediately.

The silence was broken with a scream from Cubmaster Nelson Rodriguez.

“Yeah! Yeah! Woooo!” Rodriguez raised his arms and began applauding, bringing the same reaction from everyone in attendance. “That was the most powerful rocket I’ve ever seen. We couldn’t handle that one.”

The Scout grinned as Rodriguez gave him a high-five and volunteers readied for the next launch, which was routinely successful. Rodriguez smiled as he walked back across the field.

“Nobody can get upset on rocket day,” he said. “I’ve learned. One year I was doing [wiring for] the button and launched the wrong one.”

The launch marks the annual “Blast Off” of Pack 94’s events for the school year. The pack has about 100 boys from 5 to 10 years old.

“They start looking forward to this,” said Christine Dowding, whose son, Aidan, was participating in his third rocket launch. “He hadn’t done it before we joined Scouts. He loved it so much he asked for rockets for Christmas.”

Some rockets had been painted and customized for weeks, though Dowding and Nick Ruskowsky, a Boy Scout with Troop 44, were helping a young boy glue pieces together after launches had already begun.

“I just hope I helped enough,” Ruskowsky said.