2021 Rocketry Starter Kit the AMERICAN ROCKETRY CHALLENGE the WORLD’S LARGEST STUDENT ROCKET CONTEST

2021 Rocketry Starter Kit THE AMERICAN ROCKETRY CHALLENGE THE WORLD’S LARGEST STUDENT ROCKET CONTEST

The American Rocketry Challenge—now in its 19th year—is the world’s largest rocket contest, with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing annually. The contest provides students in 6th – 12th grades the opportunity to design, build, and launch model rockets and gain hands-on experience solving engineering problems. Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of R ocketry, and m ore than twenty ae rospace industry pa rtners, including NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration,d the a n Department of Defense, the challenge is the aerospace industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to study science, technology, engineering and math.

WHAT WILL MY STUDENTS GAIN FROM WHAT ARE THE KEY DEADLINES? PARTICIPATING IN THE CHALLENGE? • Sept 1 – 2021 Registration Opens • Teamwork • Dec 1 – 2021 Registration Closes • Leadership Skills • Apr 5 – Qualification Flight Scores Due • Hands-on Engineering Experience • Apr 12 – 2021 Finalists Announced • Problem-Solving Skills • May 15 – 2021 National Finals

WHAT ARE THE RULES? WHAT HAPPENS WHEN WE WIN? Teams are made up of three to 10 students between After official qualification flights are submitted, the 6th and 12th grade, a supervisor, and an official top 100 teams are invited to attend the National Rocketry Challenge mentor. Finals in Washington, D.C. The rules vary slightly each year to provide a new Teams competing at the Final Fly-Off look to capture challenge to competitors. The 2021 rules require their share of over $100,000 in cash prizes. There are teams to design, build, and launch a model rocket also special awards for activities throughout the day. that carries one raw egg to an altitude of 800 feet, The team that places first at the National Finals wins stays airborne for 40 - 43 seconds, and return the an all-expenses-paid trip to represent the United rocket to the ground safely with the egg intact. States in the International Rocketry Challenge, hosted at the Paris Air Show in Paris, France in Jun WHAT IF I DON’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT 2021. The United States Rocketry Team competes ROCKETRY? against the winning teams from Japan, the United The American Rocketry Challenge features a Kingdom, and France. nationwide network of aerospace professionals and rocketry experts from the National Association of Rocketry and the American Institute of Aeronautics Contact Program Manager Jeremy Davis at and Astronautics who are willing and available to [email protected] or 703-358-1000. mentor your team. These mentors can help with the organizing, rocket building, and career pathway Visit RocketContest.org to learn more. exploration. @RocketContest T he American Rocketry Challenge 2021 Explained

3 The rocket must reach an altitude 4 of 800 feet. Teams are penalized one point for every foot above or All parts of the rocket must descend below the goal. safely and remain connected together. Rockets must descend using at least one parachute. 2 5 The rocket must carry a payload of one raw egg and safly return The duration of the flight must be it to the ground uncracked. All between 40 to 43 seconds. Teams parts of the rocket must remain are penalized by four points for tethered or connected through each second outside that window. takeoff and landing.

1 6 At the National Finals, the rockets Teams of 3 to 10 students will be required to reach two new work together to design altitude goals of 775 or 825 feet and construct a rocket. within 39-42 seconds or 41-44 seconds respectively.

SCORING: Teams are ranked SCORING on the combined = Unbroken # of feet seconds FOR EACH Eggs over/under ++ over/under X 4 score from their FLIGHT two best flights, the lower the better! FLIGHT 1 + FLIGHT 2 = TOTAL SCORE NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD

FED. SUPPLY CLASS

NONE

2021 RULES

June 10, 2020 Edition

THE AMERICAN ROCKETRY CHALLENGE

1000 WILSON BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION

JUNE10, 2020

REVISIONDATE:

www.aia-nas.org

ISSUE DATE:SEPTEMBER 2002 THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING MONTHS FROM THE LATER SIXTHAN LAST EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE.

THIRD CUSTODIAN REVISION ANGLE PROJECTION NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ROCKETRY 21 CLASSIFICATION

PROCUREMENT TITLE

01 SPECIFICATION STANDARD PRACTICE - 2021 RULES, NONE THE AMERICAN ROCKETRY CHALLENGE TARC-1 FORM FORM 12 SHEET 1 OF 6

USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SCOPE ...... 3

2. CONTEST RULES...... 3

2.1 SAFETY ...... 3 2.2 TEAMS ...... 3 2.3 ROCKET REQUIREMENTS ...... 3

2.4 PAYLOAD ...... 4

1000 WILSON BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION 2.5 DURATION SCORING ...... 4 2.6 ALTITUDE SCORING ...... 4 2.7 FLIGHTS ...... 4 2.8 SAFE RECOVERY ...... 5 2.9 RETURNS ...... 5 2.10 LAUNCH SYSTEMS ...... 5 2.11 FLIGHT CONTROL ...... 5 2.12 PLACES ...... 5

3. AIA’S NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS ...... 6

IX MONTHS FROM THE LAST MONTHS FROM THE IXLAST

THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING LATER S THAN EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE.

REVISION

- 21 9 TARC-1 FORM FORM 1 SHEET 2 USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS.

This document provides the rules for the 2021 American Rocketry Challenge.

2. CONTEST RULES

2.1 SAFETY

All rockets must be built and flown in accordance with the Model Rocket Safety Code of the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), any applicable local fire regulations, and Federal Aviation Regulations. Rockets flown at the Finals must have previously flown safely and successfully. Rockets will be inspected before launch and observed during flight by a NAR official, whose judgment on their compliance with the Safety Code and with these rules will be final. Teams are

encouraged to consult with designated NAR officials who are running this event well before the fly-off to resolve any

questions about design, the Safety Code, or these rules.

2.2 TEAMS

The application for a team must come from a single school or a single U.S. incorporated non-profit youth or educational

1000 WILSON BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON, AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION organization (excluding the National Association of Rocketry, Tripoli Rocketry Association, or any of their local chapters or any other incorporated rocket organization). There is no limit to the number of teams that may be entered from any single school or organization, but no more than two teams containing students who attend the same school or who are members of the same organization, regardless of whether the teams are sponsored by that school or organization, can be invited to attend the Finals. Team members must be students who are currently enrolled in grades 6 through 12 in a U.S. school or homeschool. Teams may have members from other schools or other organizations and may obtain financing from any source, not limited to their sponsoring organization. Teams must be supervised by an adult approved by the principal of the sponsoring school, or by an officially-appointed adult leader of their sponsoring organization. Minimum team size is three students and maximum is ten students. Each student member must make a significant contribution to the designing, building, and/or launching of the team's entry. No part of any of these activities for a rocket used in a qualification flight or at the Finals may be done by any adult, by a company (except by the sale of standard off-the-shelf components available to the general public, but not kits or designs for the event), or by any person not a student on that team. No student may be on more than one team. The supervising teacher/adult may supervise more than one team. The Challenge is open to the first 1000 teams that submit a completed application, including payment, postmarked between September 1 and December 1, 2020. Teams that were enrolled in TARC 2020 are automatically enrolled in TARC 2021 without additional forms or payment.

2.3 ROCKET REQUIREMENTS

Rockets must not exceed 650 grams gross weight at liftoff. The overall length of the rocket must be no less than 650 millimeters (25.6 inches) as measured from the lowest to the highest points of the airframe structure (including fins) in IX MONTHS FROM THE LAST MONTHS FROM THE IXLAST launch configuration. All portions of the rocket must remain connected or tethered together from takeoff until landing and the rocket must recover by parachute. Rockets must have the team’s official TARC entry number written on them. Rockets flown at the Finals will be required to have a paint or other decorative coating applied to any wood, paper, or fiber exterior surface of the rocket and will be assessed a 5-point flight score penalty on their first flight at the Finals if they do not. Rockets may not be commercially-made kits designed to carry egg payloads with the only modification being the addition of an altimeter compartment. They must have only one stage. They must be powered only by commercially- made model rocket motors of “F” or lower power class that are listed on the TARC Certified Motor List posted on the TARC website and provided in the TARC Handbook. Any number of motors may be used, but the motors used must not contain a combined total of more than 80 Newton-seconds of total impulse based on the total impulse ratings in the TARC list. Motors must be retained in the rocket during flight and at ejection by a positive mechanical means (clip, hook, screw-on cap, etc.) and not retained simply by friction fit in the motor mounting tube. Rockets must not contain any pyrotechnic charges except those provided as part of the basic commercially-made rocket motor used for the flight, and these must be used only in the manner prescribed in the instructions for that motor.

THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING LATER S THAN EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE.

REVISION

- 21 9 TARC-1 FORM FORM 1 SHEET 3 USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS.

Rockets must contain and completely enclose one raw hen's egg of 55 to 61 grams weight and a diameter of 45 millimeters or less; and must return it from the flight without any cracks or other external damage. The egg will be

issued to the teams by event officials during the Finals, but teams must provide their own egg for their qualifying flights. The egg and altimeter must be removed from the rocket at the end of a qualification or Finals flight in the presence of a designated NAR official and presented to that official, who will inspect the egg for damage after its removal and will read the altimeter score. All coatings, padding, or other materials used to protect the egg must be removed by the team prior to this inspection. Any external damage to the egg noted after their flight and removal from the rocket by the team is disqualifying.

2.5 DURATION SCORING

The duration score for each flight shall be based on total flight duration of the rocket, measured from first motion at liftoff from the launch pad until the moment that the first part of the rocket touches the ground (or a tree) or until it can no longer be seen due to distance or to an obstacle. Times must be measured independently by two people not on the team, one of whom is the official NAR-member adult observer, using separate electronic stopwatches that are accurate to 0.01 seconds. The official duration will be the average of the two times, rounded to the nearest 0.01

second, with .005 seconds being rounded up to the next highest 0.01 seconds. If one stopwatch malfunctions, the

AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON, remaining single time will be used. The flight duration goal is a range of 40 to 43 seconds. Flights with duration in the range of 40 to 43 seconds get a perfect duration score of zero. Duration scores for flights with duration below 40 seconds will be computed by taking the absolute difference between 40 seconds and the measured average flight duration to the nearest 1/100 second and multiplying this by 4. Duration scores for flights with durations above 43 seconds will be computed by taking the absolute difference between 43 seconds and the measured average flight duration to the nearest 1/100 second and multiplying this by 4. These duration scores are always a positive number or zero. The target duration for flights at the Finals will be 1 second less or 1 second more, with the order for these between first and second flights determined by a coin toss at the student team pre-flight briefing at the Finals. Scoring for flights with durations above or below this revised range will be aligned to match the procedures for the 40-43 second range.

2.6 ALTITUDE SCORING

Rockets must contain one and only one electronic altimeter of the specific commercial types approved for use in the American Rocketry Challenge. These types are the Perfectflite APRA, Pnut, or Firefly. The altimeter must be inspected by an NAR official both before and after the flight, and may not be modified in any manner. The altimeter must be confirmed by this official before flight to not have been triggered and to be ready for flight. The peak altitude of the rocket as recorded by this altimeter and sounded or flashed out on its audible or visible light transmission post-flight will be the sole basis for judging the altitude score and this altimeter may be used for no other purpose. Other altimeters of other types may be used for flight control or other purposes. The altitude performance goal for

IX MONTHS FROM THE LAST MONTHS FROM THE IXLAST qualification flights is 800 feet (244 meters). The altitude score will be the absolute difference in feet between the altitude performance goal in feet and the altimeter-reported actual flight altitude in feet (always a positive number or zero). The altitude performance goal for flights at the Finals will be 775 feet or 825 feet, with the order for these between first and second flights determined by a coin toss at the student team pre-flight briefing at the Finals. The altitude and duration goals will be set by a single coin toss, with the 775 foot altitude goal going with a 39-42 second duration goal and the 825 foot altitude goal going with a 41-44 second duration goal.

2.7 FLIGHTS

Team members cannot be changed after the first qualification flight that is made after September 1, 2020, with one exception as noted below for the Finals. Teams that were enrolled in TARC 2020 and carried over into TARC 2021 may

change their membership up until the point that they fly a qualification flight made after September 1, 2020. Only team members on record at the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) with valid parent consent forms are eligible to receive prizes. To be eligible for the national final fly-off event, a team is required to fly and submit the results from at

least two qualifying flights observed in person by an adult (senior) member of the NAR (unrelated to any team

PRODUCT AND SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE NO LATER S THAN EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE. THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING members or to the team’s adult supervisor and not a paid employee of their school or member of their youth group) between September 1, 2020 and Monday, April 5, 2021. Each team may conduct a maximum of three qualification

REVISION

- 21 9 TARC-1 FORM FORM 1 SHEET 4 USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS.

NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD © COPYRIGHT 2019 AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED flights, and will be ranked based on the sum of the best two qualified flights. More than two qualification flights are not required if the team is satisfied with the results of their first two flights. Qualification flights made before April, 2020 by teams that were enrolled in TARC 2020 will be carried over into TARC 2021 unless the team requests to have them all removed. A qualification flight attempt must be declared to the NAR observer before the rocket's motor(s) are

ignited. Once an attempt is declared, the results of that flight must be recorded and submitted to the AIA, even if the flight is unsuccessful. A rocket that departs the launch rail or rod under rocket power is considered to have made a flight, even if all motors do not ignite. If a rocket experiences a rare "catastrophic" malfunction of a rocket motor (as determined by the NAR official observer), a replacement flight may be made, with a replacement vehicle if necessary. Flights which are otherwise fully safe and qualified but which result in no altimeter reading despite correct usage of the altimeter by the team, or that result in a reading of less than 50 feet despite a nominal flight will be counted as “no flight” and may be reflown without penalty. The results from qualification flight attempts must be faxed or scanned and e-mailed to and received at the offices of the AIA by 11:59 PM Eastern time on Monday, April 5, 2021. Based on these qualification scores 100 teams (with a limit of no more than the best two made up of students from any single school or organization) will be selected on the basis of lowest combined scores for their best two flights. If a school has more than two teams whose flight score is better than the cutoff score for Finals selection, they may adjust the membership of the two best teams invited to attend the Finals to include students from other teams with scores that met the Finals cutoff, up to a limit of ten students on any single team. Teams will be notified no later than 5 PM on Friday, April 9, 2021, and will be invited to participate in the final fly-off to be held on May 15, 2021 (alternate date in

case of inclement weather will be May 16, 2021).

AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON,

2.8 SAFE RECOVERY

Every portion of the rocket must return to earth safely and at a velocity that presents no hazard. An entry which has any heavy structural part or an expended motor casing separate from the rest and fall to earth without any form of recovery device will be disqualified. The rocket must be allowed to land at the end of flight without human intervention (catching) and the flight will be disqualified if there is such intervention.

2.9 RETURNS

Return of the entire rocket is required by the deadline time on that same day that was established at the beginning of the day's flying. If the rocket cannot be returned after an otherwise safe and stable flight because it cannot be located or because it landed in a spot from which recovery would be hazardous (as determined by an NAR official), a replacement vehicle may be substituted for a replacement flight. Once the NAR official has declared that a rocket has landed in a place from which recovery would be hazardous, the results from that rocket’s flight may not subsequently be used even if it is recovered.

2.10 LAUNCH SYSTEMS

Teams may use the electrical launch system and the launch pads (with six-foot long, 1-inch rails) provided by the event

IX MONTHS FROM THE LAST MONTHS FROM THE IXLAST officials or may provide their own rail or tower system as long as it provides at least six feet of rigid guidance; launch rods will not be permitted to be used at the Finals. Launch systems used locally for qualification flights prior to the Finals must provide the rocket with at least six feet of rigid guidance, with a rail or with use of a rod diameter of at least 1/4 inch, if a rod is used. All launches will be controlled by the event Range Safety Officer and must occur from the ground.

2.11 FLIGHT CONTROL

Rockets may not use an externally-generated signal such as radio or computer control (except GPS navigation satellite signals) for any purpose after liftoff. They may use autonomous onboard control systems to control any aspect of flight

as long as these do not involve the use of pyrotechnic charges.

2.12 PLACES

Places in the final fly-off of the competition will be determined on the basis of the sum of the altitude and duration

PRODUCT AND SHALL BECOME EFFECTIVE NO LATER S THAN EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE. THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING scores. At the fly-offs, at least 24 teams will be invited to make a second flight based on the results of their first flights. In these second flights, rockets which have issues which would otherwise rate a replacement flight under TARC rules

REVISION

- 21 9 TARC-1 FORM FORM 1 SHEET 5 USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS.

NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD © COPYRIGHT 2019 AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED #7 or #9 will not receive a replacement flight. Prizes awarded to the top places will be awarded only to those teams that make a second flight. The top final places will be ranked on the basis of the scores from the two qualified flights made at the fly-offs. Remaining places will be awarded based on the scores from the first flight. Ties will result in pooling and even splitting of the prizes for the affected place(s) -- for example, a two-way tie for 4th place would result

in a merger and even division of the prizes for 4th and 5th places. If there is a tie for one of the top three places, the teams involved in the tie will be required to make a third flight to determine final places. Aerospace Industries Association reserves the right to make all last and final contest determinations.

3. AIA’S NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS

This document is an example of what a voluntary consensus standard might look like within the Aerospace industry. The Aerospace Industries Association organizes and facilitates groups of subject matter experts to write, approve, and publish National Aerospace Standards that contain requirements and best practices, which are adopted by companies

and governments around the world. Standards help to reduce costs and improve safety in design, manufacturing, and

operations. AIA’s National Aerospace Standards program is a vast collection of technical information and requirements that have been developed and maintained by the industry since 1941. For more information on AIA’s National Aerospace Standards go to: www.aia-nas.org.

AEROSPACE INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA,OF AEROSPACE INC INDUSTRIES ASSOCIATION BLVD. WILSON 1000 VA 22209 ARLINGTON,

IX MONTHS FROM THE LAST MONTHS FROM THE IXLAST

THIS DRAWING SUPERSEDES ALL ANTECEDENT STANDARD DRAWINGS FOR THE FOR SAMEDRAWINGS STANDARD THISANTECEDENT SUPERSEDES ALL DRAWING LATER S THAN EFFECTIVE NO PRODUCT BECOME AND SHALL REVISION DATE.

REVISION

- 21 9 TARC-1 FORM FORM 1 SHEET 6 USE OF OR RELIANCE UPON THIS DOCUMENT OR ANY NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARD IS ENTIRELY VOLUNTARY. AIA DOES NOT QUALIFY SUPPLIERS OR CERTIFY CONFORMANCE OF ITEMS PRODUCED UNDER NATIONAL AEROSPACE STANDARDS. AIA MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR CLAIM RESPECTING (1) THE SUITABILITY OF ITEMS FOR ANY PARTICULAR APPLICATION OR (2) THE EXISTENCE OF OR APPLICABILITY THERETO OF PATENT OR TRADEMARKS RIGHTS. THE AMERICAN ROCKETRY CHALLENGE 2021 THE WEEK BY WEEK SCHEDULE OF ACTIVITIES FOR NEW TEAMS

WEEK OF OCTOBER 12, 2020 • Ensure all team information (school and teacher information, student information, parent consent forms, etc.) is entered in properly at rocketcontest.smapply.io. – Your registration must be paid for and submitted no later than December 1, 2020.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 19, 2020 • Assign team responsibilities (such as project manager, airframe, propulsion & ignition, launch system, fundraising etc.). • Get a mentor (see the list of available NAR/AIAA mentors at rocketcontest.org/newcomers/mentor- list/). • Watch the instructional video “How to Build and Fly a Model Rocket” on YouTube: https://youtu.be/gYh1pWHoQXE. • Review the Team Handbook, 2020 Rules and the Frequently Asked Questions from www.rocketcontest.org. • Review the recommended rocket parts and our preferred vendors (starting with the “official suppliers” listed in the Team Handbook). • Order one of the flight-simulation and rocket-design computer programs (RockSIM or SpaceCAD), at the official team discount price directly from the vendor after you have completed your 2020 registration. – You can also try using the free software OpenRocket.

WEEK OF OCTOBER 26, 2020 • Purchase an inexpensive, one-stage rocket kit to familiarize your team with rocket building & flying. Estes has a number of resources available for newcomers to rocketry, and Aerospace Specialty Products has a basic kit just for new teams. • Locate a place to fly rockets (or a nearby NAR launch to attend and fly at, see the “Launch Windows” calendar at www.nar.org or contact the nearest NAR club or section). • Develop a plan to raise money to purchase rocket supplies for two rockets and motors for at least ten test and qualification flights. Your fundraising may also cover your travel to the Finals!

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2, 2020 • Buy a comprehensive book on model rocketry, such as G. Harry Stine’s “Handbook of Model Rocketry” (available at http://www.nar.org/nar-products/ ). • Load the rocket design and flight simulation computer program that you purchased. • If you require “site owner” insurance for the place where you will be flying, have the teacher and at least three team members join the NAR, and order NAR site owner insurance. WEEK OF NOVEMBER 9, 2020 • Fly a basic one-stage model rocket . • Order your Perfectflite official altimeter with your discount code.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 • Using the computer program and the knowledge gained from reading and from building basic rockets, develop a first rocket design for your entry.

WEEK OF NOVEMBER 30, 2020 •Using the computer program, conduct flight simulations of your design with various rocket motors on the approved motor list, to determine the best motor(s) to use . •Locate sources for the materials needed to build your design (starting with the official vendors in the Official Handbook) and purchase required parts and rocket motors.

DECEMBER 1, 2020 – REGISTRATION CLOSES

WEEK OF DECEMBER 7, 2020 • Design and build (or purchase) the electrical launch system and the launch pad (preferably with a one-inch rail), if you do not have a local rocket club’s system available for your use.

WEEK OF JANUARY 4, 2021 • Begin construction of your initial design for your entry. • Locate a NAR Senior (adult) member who can serve as your official observer for your qualification flights, if you do not already have an NAR Mentor who will do this.

WEEK OF JANUARY 11, 2021 • Develop a pre-flight checklist for your flight and assign responsibility for each of the duties to a member of the flight team. • Test your launch system by test-firing igniters without installing them in rocket motors.

WEEK OF JANUARY 18, 2021 • Weigh your completed rocket and re-run computer flight simulations with actual rocket weights.

BY FEBRUARY 1 YOU SHOULD (BUT ARE NOT REQUIRED TO): • Te st-fly your initial design (without altimeter), making sure that you leave time to redesign, rebuild, and re-fly by April 5 if this initial flight/design is not successful. • If your first flight is fully successful, test-fly again with stopwatch timing and the altimeter installed. Repeat test flights until you hit the design targets. • If your first flight is not successful, do post-flight failure analysis and re-design.

BY MARCH 1 YOU SHOULD (BUT ARE NOT REQUIRED TO): • Make your first official qualification flight attempt in front of an NAR Senior member observer . NO LATER THAN APRIL 5 YOU MUST: • Make your final official qualification flight attempt (of up to three permitted) in front of an NAR Senior member observer. • Submit your qualification flight reports at rocketcontest.smapply.io or by email.

APRIL 12 • If notified of selection to attend the flyoffs, make reservations at one of the hotels identified by the organizers and conduct fund-raising to cover travel and lodging. • Continue test-flying to fine tune rocket design to both Finals target altitudes, 775 and 825 feet. • If you plan to travel to the flyoff by airline, order rocket motors for flyoff to be shipped to the Finals receiving point at Aurora Flight Sciences or delivered on-site by a Finals vendor.

NO LATER THAN APRIL 30 • Complete and test-fly the actual rocket to be used in the Fly-off. This Fly-off rocket must have been test-flown before arrival at the flyoff, as there is no opportunity for test-flying at the flyoff site.

Contact Program Manager Jeremy Davis at [email protected] or 703-358-1000.

Visit RocketContest.org to learn more. @RocketContest National Association of Rocketry

SPORT ROCKETRY: AMERICA’S SAFE, EDUCATIONAL AEROSPACE HOBBY

WHAT IS SPORT ROCKETRY? IS THIS HOBBY SAFE?

Sport rocketry is aerospace engineering in miniature. This popular Over 500 million model rockets have been launched since the hobby and educational tool was founded in 1957 to provide a safe hobby’s founding and our simple Safety Code procedures have and inexpensive way for young people to learn the principles of almost totally eliminated accidents and injuries. Injuries are rare rocket flight. It has grown since then to a worldwide hobby with and generally minor. They are almost always the result of failure over 12 million flights per year, used in 25,000 schools around the to follow the basic safety precautions and instructions provided by U.S. Its safety record is extraordinarily good, especially compared the manufacturers. Sport rocketry’s record shows that it is safer to most other outdoor activities. It is recognized and permitted than almost any sport or other outdoor physical activity. The under Federal and all 50 states’ laws and regulations, and its safe hobby operates under the simple and easy-to-follow Model Rocket and inexpensive products are available in toy and hobby stores and High-Power Rocket Safety Codes of the National Association nationwide. Sport rocketry has inspired two generations of of Rocketry, which have been fine-tuned by professional engineers America’s young people to pursue careers in technology. and public safety officials over the past 50 years to maximize user and spectator safety. The foundations of these Safety Codes are WHAT IS A SPORT ROCKET? that sport rockets must be electrically ignited from a safe distance with advance warning to all those nearby, must have recovery A sport rocket is a reusable, lightweight, non-metallic flight systems, must be flown vertically in a suitably-sized field with no vehicle that is propelled vertically by an electrically-ignited, aircraft in the vicinity, and must never be aimed at a target or used commercially-made, nationally-certified, and non-explosive solid to carry a pyrotechnic payload. All sport rocket motors are fuel rocket motor. For safety reasons no rocket hobbyist is ever subjected to extensive safety and reliability certification testing to required or allowed to mix or load chemicals or raw propellant; all strict NFPA standards by the National Association of Rocketry or sport rocket motors are bought pre-made. Sport rockets are other national organizations before they are allowed to be sold in always designed and built to be returned safely and gently to the the U.S. ground with a recovery system such as a parachute. They are always designed to be recovered and flown many times, with the AREN’T THESE ROCKETS FIREWORKS? motor being replaced between flights. Sport rockets come in two size classes: MODEL rockets, which are under 3.3 pounds in All Federal and state legal codes recognize sport rockets as weight, have less than 4.4 ounces of propellant, and are generally different from fireworks. Fireworks are single-use recreational available to consumers of all ages; and HIGH-POWER rockets, products designed solely to produce noise, smoke, or visual effect. which are larger, use motors larger than “G” power, and are They have few of the designed-in safety features or pre-consumer available only to adults. national safety testing of a reusable sport rocket, and none of the sport rocket’s educational value. Fireworks are fuse-lit, an ARE THESE ROCKETS LEGAL? inherently dangerous ignition method that is specifically forbidden in the hobby of sport rocketry. Sport rockets are prohibited from Model rockets are legal under the laws and regulations of all 50 carrying any form of pyrotechnic payload; their purpose is to states and the Federal government, although some local demonstrate flight principles or carry educational payloads, not jurisdictions may have ordinances restricting their use. Model blow up, make noise, or emit a shower of sparks. rockets are regulated by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Code 1122, which is adopted as law in most states. They WHO ARE THE EXPERTS? are specifically exempted from Federal Aviation Administration The oldest and largest organization of sport rocketeers in the U.S. (FAA) air traffic control by Part 101.1 of Federal Aviation is the National Association of Rocketry (NAR). This non-profit Regulations (14 CFR 101.1) and may be flown anywhere without organization represents the hobby to public safety officials and FAA clearance. They are permitted for sale to children by the federal agencies, and plays a key role in maintaining the safety of Consumer Product Safety Commission under their regulations (16 the hobby through rocket engine certification testing and safety CFR 1500.85 (a) (8)). They are permitted for shipping (with code development. The NAR also publishes Sport Rocketry appropriate packaging and labeling) by the Department of magazine, runs national sport rocketry events and competitions, Transportation and U.S. Postal Service. They are not subject to and offers liability insurance coverage for sport rocketeers and regulation or user licensing by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, launch site owners. You may reach the NAR at: Firearms & Explosives (BATFE). They are endorsed and used by the Boy Scouts, 4-H Clubs, the Civil Air Patrol, and NASA. National Association of Rocketry High power rockets are regulated under NFPA Code Post Office Box 407 1127. Because of their size and power they are not available to Marion, IA 52302 people younger than age 18. Their flights are subject to FAA air http://www.nar.org traffic regulations, and purchase of the larger motors for these You may purchase copies of the NFPA Codes 1122 or 1127 rockets generally requires user certification by a national rocketry regulating sport rocketry from: organization, plus BATFE licensing in some cases. Despite these greater legal restrictions, high power rockets are also very popular. National Fire Protection Association They also have an outstanding safety record. 1 Batterymarch Park Quincy, MA 02269-9101 http://www.nfpa.org Typical Component Parts for a TARC Rocket and Where to Find Them Rocket component part TARC vendors:

Estes Industries: https://estesrockets.com/product-category/accessories-parts/

Apogee Rockets: https://www.apogeerockets.com (see the “TARC supplies” section)

Balsa Machining Service (BMS): https://www.balsamachining.com (see the “TARC parts” section) eRockets: http://www.erockets.biz/parts-for-rockets

Aerospace Specialty Products (ASP): https://www.asp-rocketry.com Main Body Tube - typical choices are: T-70/BT-70: 2.22 inch (56mm) outside diameter: Apogee (available with or without 3 fin slots); BMS (available with or without 4 fin slots); ASP (non-s slotted) T-80/BT-80: 2.60 inch (66mm) outside diameter: Apogee (available with or without 3 fin slots); BMS (available with or without 4 fin slots); Estes or ASP (non-slotted)

Shock Cord: 2-foot “200-400-pound” (breaking strength) Kevlar cord (available from Apogee, BMS, or eRockets) wrapped around engine mount, with 2-3 feet of ¼ inch sewing elastic tied to the end which is then tied to a screw eye in the transition piece to the egg capsule

Parachute: typical choiceis nylon cloth parachutes Sunward brand from Apogee; Topflight brand from BMS, ASP, or eRockets; or Semroc brand from eRockets

Parachute protection 9 x 9-inch reusable flameproof cloth blanket (Sunward, Madcow or Dinochutes brands) (Apogee and eRockets); Topflight brand (ASP) Disposable flameproof paper wadding (Estes) Nose Cone: For T70 tubes: BNC70AJ or BNC70BB (BMS balsa); PNC-56A (Apogee plastic); or ASP (Balsa) For T80 tubes: BNC80BB (BMS balsa) or PNC80BB (BMS plastic); NC-80B (Estes plastic); PNC-66A (Apogee plastic); or ASP (balsa)

Transition Section: If upper and lower body tubes are the same diameter, transition section is cylindrical: NB70 (for T70 tubes), NB80 (T80 tubes) (both BMS); “Semroc” brand balsa nose blocks (eRockets); balsa bulkheads (ASP) If one tube is T-80 and the other is T-70, transition section is conical: balsa TA7080 (BMS or ASP); blow mold plastic 70-80 transition (Apogee)

Fins: typical choices are 1/8-inch thickness balsa or 1/16 to 1/8 inch thickness plywood Multiple precut shapes with through-the-wall tabs that fit in slotted body tubes (Apogee and BMS); or buy sheets of balsa at local craft store and cut your own

Rail Guide or Button: “1010” or “10/10” size Buttons that screw on available from Apogee, ASP, BMS, or eRockets; glue-on rail guides available from Apogee Centering rings (use plywood types): For 24mm engines in T70: CR5070W (BMS); or from Apogee or ASP For 24mm engines in T80: CR5080W (BMS); or from Apogee or ASP For 29mm engines in T70: CR52H70W (BMS); or from Apogee or ASP For 29mm engines in T80: CR52H80W (BMS); or from Apogee or ASP For two 24mm engines clustered in T70: M2T5070W (BMS)

Engine Mount Tube: For 24mm engines: T50 (BMS or ASP); BT-50 (Estes or Apogee) For 29mm engines: T52H (BMS); 29mm motor mount tube (Estes or Apogee); T-29 tube (ASP)

Engine Retainer: Engine hook for Estes engines: 2.75” for D12, 3.75” for E12. Available from Apogee, BMS, or Estes. 4.9” for Estes 29mm engines available from ASP Screw-on cap type for Aerotech & Cesaroni engines: Estes 24mm or 29mm plastic retainer sets (Estes, Apogee, or eRockets) Dear [NAME],

Our school is competing in The American Rocketry Challenge and could use your support!

The American Rocketry Challenge the world’s largest student rocket contest. This year, nearly 5,000 students from across the country are competing for the chance to make the National Finals in Washington, D.C. Our team must design, build, and launch a rocket carrying one raw egg 800 feet into the air, and return to earth with the egg uncracked, all within 41 to 43 seconds. The top ten teams win a pool of over $100,000 in cash and prizes, with the winning team going on to represent the United States in London against teams from around the world.

But becoming national champions in rocketry doesn’t happen overnight – that’s why we need your help. This is our first year competing in the Rocketry Challenge, and your financial or material donation can help us succeed. [Information about your team]

We would be grateful if you were able to contribute and help our team reach the top!

If you’re interested in donating to our team, please speak with our teacher, [Teacher’s Name] at [email address] or [phone number].

Thanks for your support,

[STUDENT SIGNATURES]

JULY 2019 Why Does Presidio Have One of the Best High School Rocketry Clubs in the Country? The West Texas border town is among the poorest places in the state. But year after year its rocketeers send wealthier teams crashing back to Earth.

The Presidio High School rocketry club’s team captain, Leonardo Uribe, in Presidio on May 31, 2019. Photograph by Trevor Paulhus

It’s possible to build a model rocket in the middle of the Chihuahuan Desert, but those who live in the remote West Texas border town of Presidio face an extra challenge: the nearest Home Depot is nearly four hours away, in Odessa. So, Presidio High School’s rocketry club typically goes to the local Dollar Tree to purchase many of their rocket- building materials instead.

Dish sponges and cardboard, petroleum jelly and duct tape—those are a few of the items that the group of Presidio teenagers bought for a few dollars during recent trips to the store. Once those household items were hooked up to a fifty-newton, four-inch-tall motor and fueled with a few ounces of gunpowder, they were transformed into a rocket that qualified for the world’s largest student rocketry competition. And on a warm and humid morning in mid-May, nearly two thousand miles from the Chihuahuan Desert, the students prepared to launch it nearly a thousand feet in the air.

“I’m so nervous right now,” the team’s captain, Presidio High senior Leonardo Uribe, said as he watched another team’s rocket explode. “I just hope it doesn’t blow up like that one.”

His team was one of 101 that had bested 729 other middle school and high school rocket clubs to qualify for the national finals at the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), held annually in The Plains, Virginia. A ticket to Paris, for the international finals, was on the line. The Virginia venue, a horse pasture forty miles west of Washington, D.C., had been converted into a rocket launch field with a perpetual “3 . . . 2 . . . 1” blaring over the loudspeakers. This year’s theme: a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of the moon landing.

Hiding his nerves, Uribe, a trim nineteen-year-old wearing a Casio calculator watch, led his seven teammates to the big white tent where they would pull the requisite parts from a yellow toolbox and, in just thirty minutes, reassemble their three-foot-tall miniature rocket. They had named it Agripino, for no reason in particular, like the way some parents in their families had picked children’s names from the Mexican calendar of saints.

The team’s designated artist, Paola Flotte, had painted the bottom half to look like the Apollo 11 rocket and the top half to look like home, a landscape of cacti brushing up against a starry blue sky. To prepare it for launch, Flotte, a seventeen-year-old with a warm smile who moved to Presidio from Mexico in the third grade, sprinkled clumps of shredded newspaper into the bottom cylinder; the paper was intended to function as insulation, a wall between the gunpowder explosion and the rest of the rocket. Others greased the gunpowder-filled motor with petroleum jelly, to prevent the rocket parts surrounding the motor case from sticking during launch. The rocket, equipped with three parachutes for landing, carried three raw eggs as passengers, wrapped snugly in the dollar-store dish sponges.

Paola Flotte, the club’s designated artist. Photograph by Trevor Paulhus

This year’s challenge: to launch the rocket exactly 856 feet high and land it within 43 to 46 seconds of launch. All while keeping the eggs intact. Too much firepower might hard-boil them on the way up. Too little parachute might scramble them on the way down. It was a game of physics, requiring the right touch and a bit of luck. “Not too tight,” Uribe reminded Omar Udave, the team’s parachute expert, a senior with steady hands and sharp focus, as he folded the chutes into bite-size squares.

Finally ready for launch, Uribe loaded Agripino onto the launchpad— and fretted about one of the rocket’s fins. It had sustained a nearly imperceptible blemish while in storage. “Some of these other rockets fly so straight,” he said. “We had a little incident with this fin, so now ours spins a little bit. Which is not good.”

The fin was one component they couldn’t find at the Dollar Tree. The one they had damaged had been ordered online from Hobby Lobby, and there was no time to place another order in time for the finals. The nearest Hobby Lobby is also in Odessa.

Presidio Independent School District’s student body is one of the poorest in Texas. Ninety-three percent of its students are economically disadvantaged and qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, and more than half are English-language learners. Yet over the past decade, the high school’s rocketry club has repeatedly outperformed prestigious magnet schools and science academies with twice its budget—and easy access to big-box craft and hardware stores.

The story of how that happened begins eleven years ago, when Shella Condino decided to start a rocketry club at the high school. A 46-year- old physics teacher from the Philippines who initially came to the United States in 2002 to teach in El Paso, Condino was offered a job in Presidio in 2006, but at first she hesitated to accept. She already had an offer from the Academy for International Studies, in Houston, where she would have access to a generous budget for a rocket-club project and plenty of materials—compared with none in Presidio, at least to start. She worried that Presidio was geographically isolated, its climate arid and unforgiving. But when she saw the desert surrounding the high school, Condino felt a pull. “I thought, ‘This is the perfect place for my rocket launching,’ ” she said.

LEFT: Aaron Bustamante and Uribe make adjustments to their rocket, Agripino, at the 2019 Team America Rocketry Challenge national finals in The Plains, Virginia, on May 18, 2019.

RIGHT: Officials time Agripino’s flight.

She pitched the idea for the club to administrators, intending to use materials she had purchased herself to get it started, and they were sold. In 2008 she recruited a dozen or so students for a summer enrichment program that turned into something more when the club was invited to attend a weeklong rocketry summer camp at Texas Tech, in Lubbock. That felt like a big leap for her kids, who weren’t necessarily aspiring rocket scientists. Some had just moved to Presidio from Ojinaga, Mexico, just across the border, and had nothing to do in their new town. Some didn’t speak English. Some had never been to a hotel before or anywhere beyond Presidio.

Yet when Condino took them to Lubbock, they excelled. Competing against students from all over West Texas, they created one of the best-performing rockets, a testament, perhaps, to Condino’s tough- love, no-excuses teaching style. And the kids grabbed opportunities that others hadn’t seen. When the camp was over, they noticed that the other teams had discarded their used rockets in the trash. Strapped for resources, the Presidio students retrieved them, to reuse the materials.

“We were saving whatever we could save,” Condino said. “And [the camp director] saw us doing that. I said, ‘Sometimes people’s trash could be somebody else’s treasure.’ ” Weeks later, the director sent them two boxes full of reloadable motors. “I cried,” Condino recalled. “We could not afford those types of metal motors. We tried to conserve all of those materials for several years.”

In the spring of 2009, less than a year after Condino had founded the club, it qualified for the Team America Rocketry Challenge. Admittedly, some rockets had exploded along the way. And while most teams worry that their rockets might get stuck in a tree, the students in largely treeless Presidio worry more that theirs might get stuck in Mexico, because one actually had.

But despite the fact that they didn’t use any high-tech rocket pieces or have the most advanced motor, they placed nineteenth at the competition, which made them eligible to submit a rocket-design proposal to a NASA program that simulates a NASA mission from the drawing board to launch. The Presidio students got to consult with some of the nation’s foremost aerospace engineers, and as they sharpened their chops, they developed a reputation for being scrappy. One story—about how the team managed to afford their first trip to Virginia—has become almost legendary among TARC officials. “The Presidio team had to auction off a goat,” said Dan Stohr, a spokesman for the Aerospace Industries Association, which organizes the competition with the National Association of Rocketry. And they auctioned a goat in Presidio every year for the next five years.

Even President Barack Obama knows the story. In 2012 he invited members of the team to the White House Science Fair and highlighted their achievements in his speech. “This is part of the fourth-poorest school district in the state of Texas,” he said, asking the three club members who made the trip east to stand to be recognized. “And I was told that teachers cooked food to sell after church, supporters drove two hundred miles to pick up doughnuts for bake sales. They even raffled off a goat—is that right?—just so they could raise enough money for the rocketry team to compete.”

In 2014 the team placed fourth at TARC, its highest ranking so far. But two months later, Condino left Presidio to teach physics at a high school in northern Virginia. Given how central she was to the program, outsiders might have thought that the club would begin to falter. But the team’s current adviser, Luzviminda Sto. Domingo, said that every teacher and teacher’s assistant who has succeeded Condino has tried to follow her example—turning her teaching method into institutional knowledge.

There have been five of them over the past five years, and as it happens, all but one of them are also from the Philippines, where Presidio ISD frequently recruits math and science teachers, according to interim principal Edgar Tibayan. It’s difficult, Tibayan said, to recruit U.S. teachers to move to the desert.

Sitting (left to right): Omar Udave, Adrian Escontrias, Ramon Aguirre, and Alejandrina Elms; Standing (left to right): Dale Escontrias, Aaron Bustamante, Leonardo Uribe, and Paola Flotte. Photograph by Trevor Paulhus Sto. Domingo, a sprightly woman with a soft manner, arrived in Presidio from her native country in October, when she learned she would be supervising the rocketry club. Though she has a master’s in physics, she had no experience building rockets. Which, as it turned out, didn’t really matter: the contest’s rules require that she be hands- off, that she allow the students to experience trial and error themselves. She was there to supervise the launches, to order the non– Dollar Tree materials, to make sure the students’ creation was safe. For the most part, she said, Uribe does the teaching.

“Leo could build a rocket in a day if he wanted to,” she said. “He’s very passionate. When they lost their best rocket earlier this year, he didn’t eat. He skipped lunch to replace it.”

Uribe has spent all of his life in the borderlands. Born in El Paso, he lived in Juárez until he was eight, when his parents felt the city was becoming too dangerous. He remembers the day his mother picked him and his brother up from school in tears. She and their father had received a phone call from men who pretended to have their sons and threatened to kill them if their parents didn’t immediately wire money. Soon after that, Uribe and his brother, who are both citizens since they were born here, moved to Presidio, where an aunt and uncle lived. His parents, who had no legal status in the United States, had to stay behind in Mexico.

Uribe arrived knowing no English. At school, he didn’t like language arts or, later, politics classes. “But the one thing I was really good at was math,” he said. “And that’s because math is the universal language.”

His parents, both dentists, had encouraged him to become a doctor. But upon discovering the rocketry club as a freshman, Uribe set his sights on becoming an engineer. Aerospace engineering is his ultimate goal, but he’s open to electrical and computer engineering too, enthralled by all the opportunities the field presents to create technology that could reduce fossil fuels and pollution and save the earth. In August he will matriculate at Texas A&M–College Station. “I want to be one of those people that are changing the world,” he said. Condino, for one, knows it’s possible: In the past six months, she has heard from two prior members of the rocketry club. One now works as an engineer for Boeing in Seattle; the other works at Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing subsidiary in Virginia. “The tears keep flowing every time we hear from these kids,” she says.

LEFT: The team watches the launch. RIGHT: Agripino’s parachutes deploy. Photograpsh by Allison Shelley Back at the launch field, Uribe was pacing. “I feel like I want to collapse,” he said.

The team watched as, one by one, the rockets built by the teams they were competing against blasted off in a fiery burst of sparks and thick black smoke, sizzling and hissing as they soared straight up. “Ours don’t have nearly the same firepower as those ones,” said Ramon Aguirre, the team’s eighteen-year-old field engineer. “I feel like ours is going to be so ordinary!” said Flotte.

When their turn came, an official stopped by to ask if they were ready. They gave him the thumbs-up and then clenched their fists or clasped their hands as the countdown began. “In 5 . . . 4 . . . 3 . . . 2 . . .” And there it went.

Agripino pierced the overcast sky, traveling in a near perfect line before splitting into two cylinders at its peak, as three parachutes—two on the top cylinder, one on the bottom—burst open. As the rocket floated back toward Earth, landing not too far from where it launched, the students checked their stopwatches. They were spot-on: 43.86 seconds.

They started running toward the rocket, like a baseball team storming the pitcher’s mound at the end of an eleven-inning nail-biter. Uribe was nearly skipping, jumping every few steps and pumping his fists. They opened the cylinder to check the eggs: intact! But then they pulled out the altimeter—the device that detects the altitude the rocket reached—and grimaced. The rocket had traveled 773 feet—83 feet short of its goal. “At least it had a nice paint job,” Flotte said. The team ultimately placed seventy-third, their weakest showing since 2015.

Still, from the sidelines, the school administrators were beaming like proud parents. The superintendent, Raymond Vasquez, who joined the district last fall, said that he already intended to beef up the budget for the club next school year. Sto. Domingo said she wasn’t concerned about rankings.

“The rocket launched so well. It didn’t explode. It wasn’t disqualified. It’s really an accomplishment,” she said. “They’ve proved they can make a rocket out of Dollar Tree materials.”

Leaving the launch field, Uribe was already doing the postmortem in his head, dissecting where things had gone wrong. Could they have picked lighter eggs? Should they have used a lighter acrylic paint? But there was also the factor they couldn’t change: the stifling humidity, heavy on the rocket like a knit sweater. “That was it,” Uribe realized, and it was the one variable they hadn’t prepared for. The thing about building rockets in the desert, he said, is that there is no humidity.

Meagan Flynn, a former Texas Monthly intern and former staffer at the Houston Chronicle and the Houston Press, is now a staff writer at the Washington Post.

This article originally appeared in the July 2019 issue of Texas Monthly with the headline “Launch and Deliver.” Subscribe today. Future ‘Rocket Scientists’ at Kealakehe High School to Compete at National Level By Big Island Now

May 10, 2019, 10:00 AM HST (Updated May 10, 2019, 9:18 AM)

Kealakehe High School students are national finalists in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, May 2019. Courtesy photo.

Two teams from Kealakehe High School in Kailua-Kona are among the 101 national finalists in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association. The students will compete against other teams at the Team America Rocketry Challenge National Finals in Virginia on May 18, 2019. In addition to competing for a total of $100,000 in prizes, the winner of the national finals will advance to the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris International Air Show in June against teams from the United Kingdom, France and Japan. After four straight international championships, the United States looks to continue its international winning streak. The top 20 finishers will earn a spot in next year’s NASA Student Launch competition.

Kealakehe High School students are national finalists in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, May 2019. Courtesy photo. The Big Island teams, advised by Justin Brown, are among 830 teams that entered the competition from 46 states, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The competition, which is honoring the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing, requires a team to launch a rocket carrying three raw eggs that must reach an altitude of at least 856 feet before separating and returning to Earth uncracked—all within 43 and 46 seconds and with strict height and weight requirements.

Kealakehe High School students are national finalists in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, May 2019. Courtesy photo.

The Team America Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue study and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The competition challenges middle and high school students to design, build, and fly a rocket that meets rigorous altitude and flight duration parameters through a series of certified, qualifying launches.

Now in its 17th year, the Team America Rocketry Challenge has inspired more than 70,000 middle and high school students to explore education and careers in STEM. Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), the National Association of Rocketry, and more than 20 industry partners, the Team America Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest student rocket contest. The Rocketry Challenge promotes friendly competition among teams from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds, ethnicities, and geographies—from frozen lakes in Alaska to major metropolitan areas. Numerous teams launched fundraising campaigns in their communities to make their participation this year possible. AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning congratulated the finalists. “Qualifying for the national finals is a testament to the teamwork, critical thinking and problem-solving skills that represent the very best of aerospace and defense. Each year, this contest inspires thousands of young women and men to consider careers in STEM fields. It presents a unique opportunity to motivate the next generation of leaders who will change the way we move, connect, and explore our world.” Follow and support your local team on the road to national finals using the official hashtag: #TARC19.

For more information about the Team America Rocketry Challenge and to view the complete list of finalist teams, go to rocketcontest.org BREAKING TOP STORY

INTERNATIONAL PARIS AIR SHOW | ROCKETRY COMPETITION Madison West High School students to compete in international rocketry competition BY LOGAN WROGE May 31, 2019

Members of Madison's West High School Rocket Club meet with Pavel Pinkas, the club's mentor and scientific adviser, to plan their presentation for an international model rocket competition in Paris next month. The team, nearly all freshmen, won a national competition earlier this month to qualify. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL

The rocket is made from lightweight, craft paper tubing, fiberglass fins and a plastic nose cone, and has two main parts — a payload and a booster. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL A month before Americans celebrate the 50th anniversary of landing a man on the moon, a group of West High School students will demonstrate their own rocketry skill on an international level — ideally by sending three eggs 856 feet in the air to safely land uncracked on French soil.

The nearly all-freshmen team of Madison students will represent the United States during the International Paris Air Show next month, facing off against three other nations to determine the champion model rocket building team. The trip marks the third time West High has sent a team to the international competition, the last being in 2012.

Earlier this month, the club qualified by placing first in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, besting 100 other teams, including another from West High. The 34-inch rocket is constructed out of lightweight, craft paper tubing, fiberglass fins and a plastic nose cone, and is divided into two main pieces — the payload portion containing three large grade A eggs and the booster component.

The eggs represent the three astronauts on the Apollo 11 spaceflight. Nathan Wagner, 15, said the national competition, which was held near Washington, D.C., was a great team-building experience “as well as something we could show off our potential and say, ‘Hey, this is what America’s got, this is what West High’s got, and this is what we’re going to carry to internationals.’”

The goal of the competition is to design a rocket that hits a target altitude, deploys a parachute and lands, all within a set amount of time. The team with the lowest score wins.

Points are added based on the amount of time a rocket is below or above the goal of 43 to 46 seconds of airtime.

A team’s score also goes up depending on how far off a rocket is from reaching 856 feet — a nod to when Neil Armstrong first planted his foot on the lunar surface at 8:56 p.m. CDT on July 20, 1969 — measured by an onboard altimeter.

At the national competition, West High had a score of 10 after two launches, beating a second-place Alabama school that scored 12.56 points.

Biology teacher and club adviser Chris Hager said she has warned the students about the media attention they’ll receive in Paris, where France, Japan and the United Kingdom are also fielding teams. “I think it’s going to be amazing. As I’ve heard, we’re going to be treated like celebrities, apparently,” said freshman Lukas Weinhold, who also noted the competition as a bonus for a resume.

Jacob Mello will be traveling out of the country for the first time. The freshman had not even been on an airplane before.

He said some of his teammates who have visited Paris are floating ideas of things to do on the trip.

“I don’t even know what most of those things are, but I’m guessing it’s going to be a blast,” Mello said.

Earlier in the school year, club members designed and built individual rockets. It was Mello’s rocket that was eventually selected and refined to be used in the competition setting.

It is called the Stewart V after Mello’s nickname and the Saturn V rocket that sent the Apollo 11 crew to the moon.

“Consistency is the key to the nationals and winning it,” the 15-year-old Mello said.

For 14-year-old Alex Goff, the trip will be the third time the freshman has visited Paris. This time, he’d like to go to the Père Lachaise Cemetery, where Doors frontman Jim Morrison and Polish composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin are buried.

The trip is paid for by the Aerospace Industries Association and defense contractor Raytheon. On Wednesday, seven of the eight members of the West High team going to the international model rocket competition practiced a presentation they'll give on their rocket, named the Stewart V, to a group of judges in Paris. JOHN HART, STATE JOURNAL On Wednesday, seven of the eight team members gathered after school to practice the presentation portion of the international competition where they will explain their rocket to and answer questions from a group of judges.

Club mentor Pavel Pinkas quizzed them on physics questions, rocket terminology and design decisions, such as why they chose pricey but more sturdy fiberglass fins over wooden ones, occasionally joking that “this isn’t rocket science.”

With 40% of a team’s overall score coming from the presentation portion, the team practiced for more than two hours, briefly interrupted by an announcement over the speakers asking for the owner of a black Honda Civic to move their car.

The team leaves for France on June 17. The presentation will take place June 20 and the launch is scheduled for June 21.