About NAR
America's largest and oldest rocketry organization

The National Association of Rocketry (NAR) is a non-profit tax-exempt scientific organization  dedicated to consumer safety, youth education, and the advancement of technology in the hobby of spacemodeling (sport rocketry) in the United States. Founded in 1957, the NAR is the oldest and largest spacemodeling organization in the world with over 8,000 members and approximately 220 affiliated clubs across the U.S.

The NAR supports all aspects of safe consumer sport rocket flying, from small model rockets with youth groups to very large high power rockets with serious adult hobbyists. It is a recognized national authority for safety certification of consumer rocket motors and user certification of high- power rocket fliers in the U.S. It is the author of safety codes for the hobby that are recognized and accepted by manufacturers and public safety officials nationwide. The NAR plays a strong role in the establishment of national rocketry safety standards for public safety officials through its participation in the National Fire Protection Association. It functions as the consumer liaison and the voice of its members with hobby manufacturers, national media, local public safety officials, and government regulatory agencies such as the Department of Transportation, Federal Aviation Administration, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives, and Consumer Product Safety Commission.

The NAR publishes the bimonthly color magazine Sport Rocketry, the nation’s largest-circulation hobby rocketry magazine, which goes to all NAR members and to libraries and newsstands around the nation, as well as a monthly Electronic Rocketeer member e-mail newsletter. The NAR provides a wide range of other services to its members, including: education programs; national and local competitions; grants to teachers and scholarships for student members; flight performance record recognition; liability insurance; and publication of technical literature. The NAR represents the U.S. in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale World Spacemodeling Championships international program. Partnered with the Aerospace Industries Association in an effort to build youth interest in aerospace careers, it co-sponsors the world’s largest rocket contest, the Team America Rocketry Challenge, which has attracted over 5,000 7th through 12th graders to enter in teams from across the U.S. each year since 2002. The NAR also operates the annual rocket launch for the NASA Student Launch Program where 50 high school and university student teams fly large complex high power rockets and scientific payloads that they have designed and built.