It All Comes Down To This!

Bragging rights as the best model rocket team in the nation will be up for grabs this weekend, as hundreds of students gather at Great Meadow near Washington DC for the final round fly- off of the world's largest rocket contest.

The fourth annual installment of the Team America Rocketry Challenge will feature intense aerial competition as more than 500 middle and high school students battle for a share of more than $60,000 in prizes.

About 7,000 students on 678 teams from 47 states and the District of Columbia took part in regional competition, with the top 100 squads reaching the final. Winning teams will share a prize pool of more than $60,000 in savings bonds and cash.

Former Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the first two men to land on the moon, leads a group of VIPs from NASA, DoD, the European Space Agency, and other groups. Other attractions during the event are a flyover by the US Marine Corps, an unmanned aerial vehicle demonstration, and high-powered rocket launches.

The only national rocket competition for middle and high school teams, TARC is sponsored by AIA and the National Association of Rocketry in partnership with NASA, the Defense Department, and the Civil Air Patrol. A total of 39 AIA member companies are sponsoring this year's challenge. NASA and DoD have contributed additional prizes, including a chance for students to build an advanced rocket, and science and technology tool kits for teachers. AIA member company Raytheon is sending the winning team to the Farnborough International Airshow near London in July.

Student teams come from middle or high schools or community groups such as 4-H clubs or scouting troops. They design and construct the rockets themselves -- they are not from model kits -- using knowledge of physics and mathematics. AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass said the contest goal is to encourage students to study advanced math and sciences and to consider studying aerospace fields in college.

This year's contest is more challenging than previous years, because teams must shoot for goals covering both flight altitude and duration. Past years' competitions had just one of the criteria. The finalists are attempting to launch their rockets 800 feet with a flight lasting 45 seconds, with the closest to both winning. The rockets' raw-egg payload must return to the ground unbroken.

Last year, a team from Dakota County 4-H in Minnesota took top honors.

Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association represents the nation's leading manufacturers and suppliers of civil, military, and business aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, space systems, aircraft engines, materiel, and related components, equipment services, and information technology.

FMI: www.rocketcontest.org