HOUSTON -- A provision deep within the regulations of the new Homeland Security Act is threatening to shut down the popular hobby of model rocketry because the propellant used to make the rocket's solid-fueled motors is now classified as explosive material.
The change in status, approved in November 2002 as an update to the Safe Explosives Act of 1970, imposes new restrictions on shipping and handling the rocket motors, which have been safely flown by thousands of students for many years.
Under the new rules, which fully take effect May 24, shipping companies are required to have every employee who might touch the rocket motors be certified, pass background checks and get fingerprinted -- an added expense the companies are unlikely to bear.
United Parcel Service already has stopped shipping the more powerful versions of model rocket engines, according to Tim Van Milligan, president of Apogee Rockets in Colorado Springs, Colo.
There also are reports that some trucking and railroad firms have stopped shipping the motors, and Fed Ex employees have indicated to some model rocket flyers they likely will follow suit in the coming weeks.
"It is the heart of the problem we face. Because if manufacturers like Estes can't get rocket motors delivered to stores, the hobby is completely dead," Van Milligan said.
U.S. Senator Michael Enzi, R-Wyo., intends to introduce legislation as early as this week to make what's being called a "technical correction" to the Safe Explosives Act so that the material used inside the small motors is removed from the "explosives list."
"Congress defined an explosive as any chemical mixture or device whose primary or common purpose is to function by explosion," Enzi wrote to Bradley Buckles, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).
"I am told that the ATF claims that the primary or common purpose of a rocket propellant is to explode. A rocket propellant is not designed or intended to explode," Enzi said.
The model rocket scientists-turned-lobbyists are quick to point out that if model rocket engines are designed to explode under the definition used by the ATF, no rocket would get off the ground. It would just blow up on the pad.
SPACE.com contacted the ATF and left messages but no one returned the calls. When informing one unnamed assistant of the topic, she said "we've been getting a lot of calls on the subject of model rockets."
Model rocket hobbyists of all ages are preparing to fire off faxes, e-mails, letters and phone calls to Capitol Hill to support Enzi's efforts. And they lined up quickly to tell SPACE.com what they thought of the current law.
Jay Apt saw his first model rocket catalog at age 13 in 1962. If the name's familiar it's because he went on to fly four shuttle missions that included two spacewalks and a mission to the International Space Station.
"If we are to keep challenging our technology-inclined young people, we need to keep the benefits of model rocketry in mind when we pursue a tendency, natural in troubled times, to restrict anything which might be abused," Apt said.
"It makes no more sense to restrict aerospace modeling than it would have to ban rental trucks after they were misused in Oklahoma and New York."
There are ways to continue flying model rockets under the current law, but they involve applying for permits, paying a fee, undergoing a background check and getting finger printed.
"Model rocketeers are not criminals and this law treats them like one. How would you like your kids to be finger printed just to fly rockets?" said Van Milligan, who went through what he described as a "difficult" process.
For the space modeling enthusiasts, the actions of the government make no sense, especially at a time when the nation is recovering from the Feb. 1 shuttle Columbia tragedy and kids of all ages are asking questions about the value of such programs.
"Because of increasing legal restrictions, a lack of understanding about model rocketry's excellent safety record, and a general bias against hobby rocketry, it is becoming extremely difficult to get the permits and launch sites needed to expose these young people to the educationally stimulating and inspirational effects of rocketry," said Craig Cline, senior adviser of the Alhambra Rocketry Club in Los Angeles.
"Our country's leadership needs to encourage and protect, not stifle, the ability of the public and our youth to engage in the activities and pursuit of knowledge that have allowed us to become the world leader in scientific advancement."
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