STARKVILLE, Mississippi USA — In a large field strewn with bits of cotton in Starkville, four students from the Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science arched their necks backwards to the sky Saturday - with hands shielding their eyes from the sun - as they watched their rocket take flight.

“I'm just happy that it actually went up and the parachute came out and everything,” said Max Mauldin, a 16-year-old senior from Pearl.

“I just hoped we wouldn't have any rockets crash into the ground because then we'd have to build a new one.”

The students are the only Mississippians participating in the Team America Rocketry Challenge, which will pad their pockets with $60,000 if they win the national competition.

From left, Greg Stewart of Aurora Flight Sciences watches a rocket launch Saturday with Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science students John Anderson, Sumontro Sinha, Max Mauldin and Jeremy Adams. Photo: Tippett

Saturday's test flight was one of two scheduled before the team attempts to qualify for the tournament.

“It started out with the physics club at MSMS and so we had a few people who were interested in it,” Mauldin said. “From there we got some people who were interested in rockets in general who got into a group.”

Greg Stewart, the general manager at Aurora Flight Sciences in Columbus, has volunteered his time to work with the MSMS team.

“Aurora was started by people who were flying rockets forever,” said Stewart who added that the company is a sponsor of the national competition. “I've been flying since 1968. Model rockets are kind of second nature to many of the people at Aurora and we know this is a good way to get people involved in engineering.”

Stewart began the day in Aurora's hanger at Golden Triangle Regional Airport instructing the team on how to build the rockets.

With some cardboard, glue and a small engine - all available from hobby shops - the team crafted their unnamed rocket.

Getting the rocket into the air is the first step - designing the rocket is a distant second.

The team proceeded to the Mississippi State University's experimental field off U.S. Highway 182 to shoot off four rockets.

To qualify for the national competition, the team must design and build a safe and stable model rocket that lifts a fragile payload - one raw egg - to exactly 850 feet and has a flight duration of exactly 45 seconds, at the end of which it returns the payload to the Earth undamaged.

For many on the team, Saturday's launch was the first time they had shot off a large rocket.

Sumontro Sinha, 16, said he has previously shot of three large rockets, but two exploded and one was “lost forever to time.”

The first three launches were rockets approximately twelve inches in length. The egg payload only survived one of the three trips back to Earth.

The fourth launch was the team crafted rocket that was more than two feet in length.

Mauldin and Sinha, along with team members John Anthony and Jeremy Adams, counted down from five to one - then lift off.

The rocket flew straight and true. At 165 feet, the parachute deployed and safely returned the egg. The team completed its first step to qualifying for the tournament.

“Only 700 more feet to go,” said Anthony, 18, from Water Valley. “Today we wanted to make sure everything lined up straight and the parachute popped out. Well, it flew. It flew straight.”
 
Stewart noted the day was a success despite breaking the fin on a second rocket. He said the ultimate goal isn't to help the students win a prize, but to harness their enthusiasm for engineering.

“One day they might be working for Aurora,” he said. “I'd hire all four of them.”