Club, shuttle contractor help kids in national event

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama USA — It seems only natural that the Rocket City, home of author Homer Hickam, would have Rocket Boys all its own.

Vince Huegele and Chuck Pierce, engineers at Marshall Space Flight Center and former presidents of the Huntsville Area Rocketry Association, have helped hundreds of kids at 13 schools in Birmingham and North Alabama field Team America Rocket Challenge, or TARC, teams. The national competition bills itself as "the largest model rocket showcase on the planet" and features 100 selected teams competing for a share of a $60,000 prize.

Officials at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Huntsville, the contractor for the space shuttle main engines, the Ares I upper-stage engine and the Ares V core-stage engines, decided that students from the Rocket City should be among the nation's student rocketry elite. So the company teamed up with the local rocketry group to help make sure that happens.

"Since TARC began five years ago, we've seen these teams excel just like the 'Rocket Boys' in Homer Hickam's book," said Huegele, education chairman for the National Association of Rocketry. "Members develop their own technical specialty, which contributes to the egg-lofting mission. They work together just like a real aerospace team.

"The communities rally behind these kids. Their rockets fly and they learn a lot, not just about applying science knowledge, but also leadership and cooperation."

Huegele and Pierce and the Rocketry Association are working with Marshall to reach many education youth groups, such as 4-H and Girl Scouts, and encourage them to use model rocketry as a fun teaching tool. For more information, contact Rocketry Association President Joe Robinson at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it or go to http://www.hararocketry.org.

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