NARCON 2017 Schedule

The National Association of Rocketry’s Convention for 2017 will be held from Friday February 24 through Sunday February 26th, 2017.  The Program will be presented at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, near Dulles Airport and the Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Herndon, Virginia.

Please keep in mind that the Conference’s schedule is still evolving and is subject to change.  Changes and additions will be posted here as soon as possible.

Friday – February 24th

The NAR Town Hall meeting and the Research and Development competition presentations happen in the evening.

We have arranged a tour of the Aurora Flight Sciences development facility for Friday afternoon.  The tour group will depart the NARCON hotel at 2:00 pm for a 2:30 tour start.  Advance sign-up is required; use the registration tool.  On December 12, 2016, the size of this tour was limited to 50 people. 

Saturday – February 25th

4 tracks of breakout groups with 7 different hour-long presentations in each track, covering a wide range of topics on the technology and techniques of the hobby, including the Team America Rocketry Challenge, or on current developments in professional spaceflight.

Manufacturer displays of their latest rocketry products all day and presentations in the late afternoon.

Social and banquet dinner in the evening.

After-dinner presentation by Lee Piester, founder of Centuri Engineering Company, one of the premier and top trend-setting companies in the hobby’s founding years.

Sunday – February 26th

Visit the Udvar-Hazy Center, it is open from 10:00 am to 5:30 pm.  We have a special showing of an IMAX movie there at 9:15 AM, before the museum opens to the public.

Admission to the Museum is free but, there is a $15.00 charge for parking (per car load) before 4:00 pm and includes in‑and‑out privileges.  After 4:00 pm parking is free (the Museum closes at 5:30 pm).  Parking refunds are available if you are just dropping passengers off.  We will be arranging car pools and use of the hotel’s shuttle van to help NARCON participants minimize the parking costs!