Washington Aerospace Club (WAC) gets you outdoors and promotes fun
Wednesday, November 4, 2026
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| WAC’s 22 foot tall Disneyland Moonliner Model Photo by Kenneth Berkun |
By Kenneth Berkun
Looking for a hobby that gets you outdoors and promotes creativity? Model rocketry is a well-established, fun and safe hobby. The Washington Aerospace Club (WAC) is the largest amateur rocketry club in the state, where our focus is on education, responsibility and having lots of fun.
Club members are of all ages, and membership is free for students. All levels of experience are welcome, including complete novices. We are lucky to have a large field to launch model rockets, just across the lake at 60 Acres Park in Redmond 15200 NE 116th St, Redmond, WA 98052
Most members start with kits – perhaps you even did so when you were younger - and many go on to design their own rockets. We fly rockets of all sizes, from just a few inches long to several feet. Most people fly inexpensive, safe, commercially available engines. More experienced rocketeers may even build their own engines, and we can teach how.
The club holds public launches from November through May at 60 Acres Park in Redmond. It’s “Bring your own rockets”, but we have rockets for everyone to fly and if you’re under 18 and you fly it and recover it, you can take it home with you! Experienced members are there to support new members.
WAC supports high-school rocket clubs and an annual national contest, the American Rocket Challenge. Several of our local high schools have done very well in this event, leading to participation in international contests, most recently in Serbia. WAC also participates in local events, such as National Space Week, and various activities at the Museum of Flight.
Club members hold a number of international records, and last year we launched the largest and most powerful amateur rocket in Washington history, a 22 foot tall, one-third scale model of the famed Disneyland Moonliner!
WAC meetings, which are open to everyone (including non-members), are held at the Seattle Museum of Flight and online at 7pm, on the first Wednesday of the month. Presentations range from basic rocket assembly to advanced topics. The November 14th meeting is a review of our club’s year of making and flying high power engines. And every month there’s a show-and-tell where members bring in their latest models to show and share; you never know what people have made to fly!
Our next club meeting is November 4, 2026 at 7pm at the Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way S.Seattle, WA 98108 and is open to everyone (no charge, and since it’s after the museum closes, no cost of entry to the museum). Our meetings are also available online to members.
Most members start with kits – perhaps you even did so when you were younger - and many go on to design their own rockets. We fly rockets of all sizes, from just a few inches long to several feet. Most people fly inexpensive, safe, commercially available engines. More experienced rocketeers may even build their own engines, and we can teach how.
The club holds public launches from November through May at 60 Acres Park in Redmond. It’s “Bring your own rockets”, but we have rockets for everyone to fly and if you’re under 18 and you fly it and recover it, you can take it home with you! Experienced members are there to support new members.
WAC supports high-school rocket clubs and an annual national contest, the American Rocket Challenge. Several of our local high schools have done very well in this event, leading to participation in international contests, most recently in Serbia. WAC also participates in local events, such as National Space Week, and various activities at the Museum of Flight.
Club members hold a number of international records, and last year we launched the largest and most powerful amateur rocket in Washington history, a 22 foot tall, one-third scale model of the famed Disneyland Moonliner!
WAC meetings, which are open to everyone (including non-members), are held at the Seattle Museum of Flight and online at 7pm, on the first Wednesday of the month. Presentations range from basic rocket assembly to advanced topics. The November 14th meeting is a review of our club’s year of making and flying high power engines. And every month there’s a show-and-tell where members bring in their latest models to show and share; you never know what people have made to fly!
Our next club meeting is November 4, 2026 at 7pm at the Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way S.Seattle, WA 98108 and is open to everyone (no charge, and since it’s after the museum closes, no cost of entry to the museum). Our meetings are also available online to members.
Our next rocket launch is on November 14, from 11am to 3pm, at 60 Acres Park (north field), weather permitting. Visit the club website the day before if you are unsure about the weather.
We look forward to introducing you to a fun hobby that challenges you at home with model building, and outdoors, launching and recovering rockets that may fly as high as a thousand feet or more!
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