I was puzzled when my recent Tripoli renewal came back in a small bubble wrap lined envelope instead of a standard correspondence envelope. I open it up and out comes this shiny pin, WOW. I hadn't given it much thought, but I've been a member of Tripoli Rocketry Association for 25 years now! I'm temped to get all cliche and say; time flies when you're having fun, but mostly it just flies.
Needless to say, I have a very low membership number, in fact they had to add two zeros to the front of it over the years. What is surprising is that due to attrition over the intervening centuries there are less than 50 members now with lower numbers. For my part, I don't consider this any kind of elitism, just hardcore rocketry.
My brother Keith composed this photo, and it was his idea to add the rocket motor. It's a 38mm Vulcan I250 Smokey Sam and nearly that old itself.
