This beautifully evocative vintage image, taken at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is a United Press International photo, dated November 29, 1969. There's a candid immediacy to the scene depicted; it conveys a familiar sincerity and enthusiasm most of those who were teenagers captivated by model rocketry during the 1960s or 1970s (such as the author of this blog) will immediately remember.
It's fun to rummage visually through the details in this picture to discover items one is familiar with. The most obvious being the rockets, of course, such as the main body, clear payload section, and nose cone of a Centuri Payloader II in the grass, the Estes Astron Camroc camera nose cone in the boy's hand, or the Centuri (or Estes?) Apollo Little Joe II in the cardboard box at right. Next to the boy's left foot is a Centuri 1967 model rocketry products catalog, quite a collector's item today, all these years later.
The press text attached to the rear of the original photo reads as follows:
WAP 1613620
MODEL ROCKETRY
GREENBELT, MD: With the equipment and tools necessary to build a model rocket, a member of the National Association of Rocketry is busy assembling his latest creation. Each year, the NAR sanctions contests throughout the United States in preparation for the National Model Rocket championships, also sanctioned by the NAR. Model rockets are constructed of paper, balsa wood, and breakable plastics and contain no substantial metal parts. The rockets are powered by commercially manufactured propellants of proven reliability and performance.
11/29/69
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