Our launch site is just north of Pence, Indiana, less than a mile east of the Indiana-Illinois border. Other close towns include Danville, IL, Hoopeston, IL, Boswell, IN, and Lafayette, IN. The launch field is located on beautiful farmland, which greatly simplifies rocket tracking and recovery. The launch field coordinates are: 40d 23′ 12.38″ N; 87d 30′ 40.62″ W. Field elevation is 709 feet above mean sea level (MSL). Historically, our launch waiver is 16,000 feet, but for NSL-East the waiver has been increased to 18,000 ft!

An environment as great as this one for flying and recovering rockets provides little protection from the sun. Please remember to bring sunscreen and lots of water, launching rockets all day in the sun can take quite a toll on people. Winds tend to pick up in the afternoon, flying earlier rather than later is recommended.

As fun of a concept as it is to potentially launch a rocket in one state and land in another, this state border also represents a time zone change from Eastern to Central time. Please remember to take this into account, all field operations operate on Eastern time. Phones may be unreliable in timing as they can jump back and forth between times throughout the day.

As our field is in an active farming community, please remember to be courteous and respectful to our neighbors. We are very thankful to the area landowners and farm managers for allowing us to use their land. Please do not drive into the fields, and if crops are still in the ground take care when traversing the fields. NSL-East is happening at the end of harvesting season, so it is important that we stay out of the farmer’s way.

There is an active county road that divides our flight line from “tent city”, please refrain from gathering on the road and setting up chairs to allow for traffic to flow. Remember to drive at a reasonable speed around the launch site, as well as in the small towns nearby.