Rocketry teams have high hopes for national competition 

INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana USA — Don't ever use the expression "it's not exactly rocket science" around Matt and Jake Holtman. Because to the Brownsburg brothers, it is.

The pair are among area youths who have qualified for the national finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge later this month in The Plains, Va., near Washington, D.C.

To win a spot in the world's largest model rocket contest, students had to launch custom-designed rockets about 850 feet into the air and maintain flight for roughly 45 seconds.

Andrew Engle (left), 15, and Sebastian Audet, 16, both Indianapolis, used laptop computers to figure out how to make a rocket hit the target 850-foot altitude, as the Great Commission Academy rocket team practiced launching its rockets Saturday on County Road 750 North in Brownsburg. Two Indiana teams will compete May 19 in Virginia. Photo: Joe Vitti.

The roar of the takeoff is exhilarating, said Matt Holtman, a Brownsburg High School sophomore. "It's pretty cool."

The Holtmans are among 11 students from the Great Commission Academy of Indianapolis, an association of home-schoolers. All the students were or are now home-schooled. The group fielded a team in last year's nationals, placing 83rd.

Also returning to the finals is a team from Covenant Christian High School on Indianapolis' Far Westside. The school placed fourth among 100 finalists last year.

The key to success? Covenant adviser Sean Bird doesn't hesitate.

"Practice," he said.

Under the competition's rules, the rocket must be built with nonmetal materials, such as paper, plastic and wood. Engines are typically purchased from a hobby shop. Students calibrate the electronics and do the math calculations that determine the success of the flight.

Students from Great Commission Academy conducted a computer simulation to find the right specifications.

"You tell it what engine you want; you tell it how big it is and how much it weighs," said Dale Hitchings, who advises the academy's two teams. "It tells you how high it goes."

Before takeoff, team members factor in temperature, wind speed and launch angle. Jake Holtman, an eighth-grader at Brownsburg East Middle School, then pushes a button, and the rocket rises in a plume of flame.

To earn a spot in the rocketry finals sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, teams must land with the "astronaut" intact.

Playing the part of the astronaut: a raw egg placed in the payload bay.

Even with a parachute designed to bring the rocket booster and payload gently back to earth, mistakes happen. During one practice, the Great Commission Academy payload bay took a nose dive. Said Matt Holtman: "You can imagine what happened to the egg."

Nearly 7,000 students on 690 teams attempted to qualify for the Team America Rocketry Challenge. The top 10 teams will share more than $60,000 in savings bonds for college.

Copyright © 2007, The Indianapolis Star.