Mike Dorffler (Person)
Born on December 6, 1946, in York, Nebraska, Michael Keith Dorffler earned a degree from Milford Technical School. His experiments with flying a small 8mm movie camera in a model rocket came to the attention of Vern Estes. Estes expressed interest in developing the camera as a product and invited the young man to an interview in Colorado.
At their first meeting, Estes offered Dorffler a job. Dorffler and his wife moved from Nebraska to Colorado and Dorffler began a career that would last more than forty years.
In 2010, the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) awarded their first Lifetime Achievement Award for Rocket Design, for his contributions to rocketry. NAR President Trip Barber thanked Dorffler for the legacy he left behind.
In awarding the prize, NAR president Trip Barber said "I want to recognize and thank you for your extraordinary contributions to our hobby through your work as the longest-serving and most prolific rocket designer at the world's largest model rocket company." He added, "Your creative design skills and your ability to translate this creativity into more than 250 successful mass-produced kits plus a wide range of other products have shaped our hobby for more than 42 years. When those of us who have been in the hobby for many years reflect on the greatest products ever introduced, the names of your creations are always at the top of the list — from the Cineroc to the Astrocam to the Alpha III. America likes to fly what you have designed."
Dorffler's battle with cancer ended with his death on September 7, 2010. His legacy lives on, embodied in the number of rocketry products he developed and inspired.
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