One of the most rewarding events ANN and Aero-TV have participated in over the last year was AIA's extraordinary Team America Rocketry Challenge. Fun, inspiring, challenging... all these words do little to impart the amazing event that we witnessed and shot over the course of a few days... and we can't wait to do it again.
However; one of the truly great 'bennies' of this event was meeting the next generation of America's rocket people... and that includes the TARC 2010 National Champions, Penn Manor High School... who went on to the International competition and took ALL the marbles there as well.
Student Rocketeers from France, the United Kingdom and the United States competed in late July in the Third Annual Transatlantic Rocketry Challenge. The four-member team from Penn Manor High School in Millersville, PA posted the best score to win the international fly-off. Horsforth School in Leeds, England placed second. The French team was unable to launch its rocket due to technical problems. The international rocketry challenge is the culmination of three separate competitions: the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), UKAYRoC and the French Rocketry Challenge.
Each contest brings together teams of middle and high school students to design, build and launch model rockets. This year the challenge was to launch a rocket that reaches an altitude of 825 feet, stays aloft for 40-45 seconds and returns a raw egg unbroken. As part of their score, teams also had to give an eight minute presentation on their rocket design to a panel of international judges.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry in the U.S.; ADS, Tri Polus Ltd, Space Connections and the Royal Aeronautical Society in the UK; and GIFAS and Planete Sciences in France, the programs are designed to encourage students to pursue careers in aerospace. "Based on today's competition, the future of our industry is looking pretty bright," said Marion Blakey, president and CEO of AIA.
"The level of enthusiasm of the participants is phenomenal, and each team deserves congratulations for winning their home competition and inspiring other students." AIA created the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young people. The success of the program encouraged UK aerospace industry leaders to create the UKAYRoC in 2007 with similar goals in mind. Last year at the 2009 Paris Airshow, France announced they would compete as well in the international rocketry challenge.
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