THE PLAINS, Virginia USA — The old saying, "What goes up, must come down" is appropriate for most exercises in gravity. But when it comes to the rules of the world's largest model rocket contest, the Team Rocketry Challenge, things are considerably more complicated.

A model rocket, designed and built by high school students, must go up to an altitude of 850 feet, remain airborne for 45 seconds, and — the clincher — safely parachute its raw egg payload to the ground, unbroken.

Teacher John Dietrich (center) looks on as Kyle Griffin (left) and Brian Phillips (right) assemble their model rocket for a test launch at a field near Liberty High School. Photo: Litzinger.

More than 7,000 students on 690 teams across the country tried it to qualify for national competition in April. Only the top 100 team scores were chosen for the nationals, and Liberty High School is among them.

The team's qualifying statistics were an altitude of 834 feet and 42.96 seconds of flight duration.

The students on the Liberty team are Kyle Griffin, Jeff Reed, Brian Phillips, Brandon Groves and Predair Robinson. Their team supervisor is biology teacher John Dietrich. All are preparing for the national launch, which will take place Saturday, May 19, at Great Meadows, beginning at 8:45 a. m. with a ceremonial flyover of the U.S. Air Force.

The competition starts at 9:00 a.m. and lasts until 3:00 p.m., with an hour break for lunch. While the scores are being tallied at 3:00, there will be various rocket demonstrations by the National Association of Rocketry for spectators. In case of inclement weather, a rain date is set for the following day on Sunday, May 20, with the same time schedule.

The team feels as if it may have a slight home advantage. Having practiced launches every month at Great Meadows, the students are familiar with such things as the site's elevations, air pressures and predominant wind direction.

Griffin explained that the altimeter used in the rocket gauges the height, based on air pressure. According to the manufacturers of model rocket components, the altimeter measures the air pressure surrounding the rocket. As the pressure decreases with altitude, the altimeter compares it with the air pressure on the ground and computes the altitude difference that caused the pressure change.

"Brian actually pointed out that people are practicing their launches at different elevations, so if you have a higher elevation, the pressure changes may be different than what we have here," Griffin said. "Knowing the terrain well, we feel a little more safe."

But feeling safe can be a fleeting emotion. Dietrich felt that a practice launch should be used as a baseline for any other changes that need to be made by "trying to drop some mass in order to get to and be consistent in altitude."

So the team supervisor and his students decided to conduct a launch last week in a pasture near the school grounds. The team started out fairly confidently.

"We just play with the mass, mostly in the padding or wherever we can find anything."

For launch preparation, Griffin said, "there's actually not a whole lot that can be taken off the rocket at this point without rebuilding it. This rocket we have is pretty consistent."

But being consistent was not the order of the day. The results of the practice launch were a far cry from the team's qualifying round.

The practice started by Dietrich encouraging the students to go through their checklist. One of the variables for a successful flight is how the rocket is packed. Dietrich said that the launch preparation must be deliberately taken step-by-step, making sure the motor, parachute, egg, and nose cone are just right. For the practice launch, packing the rocket correctly is essential; sometimes it took more than one pair of hands to make all of the needed adjustments to the rocket.

When the adjustments were complete, the team headed to the field, with rocket, launch pad, and a fire extinguisher for an emergency in hand. Dietrich's truck was already in place, its battery serving as the energizing source for the blastoff.

Students placed the rocket on the tall rod of the launching pad and, with the help of the truck battery, the rocket soared into the sky. But it didn't soar high enough. In fact, it was supposed to go up almost three times its height of 368 feet.

And when the parachute landed, the egg was broken; in competition, teams automatically lose in this case.

Although everyone was disappointed, the brainstorming began almost immediately, with the team trying to figure out what went wrong. Perhaps the igniter or the length of rod on the launch pad were to blame.

Dietrich said, "I didn't like it. It didn't go up right. It started spinning from the get-go.

"We've got to figure it out, guys. We've got a week and a half."

Griffin was confident that the right adjustments will be made. "We pretty much work together. We do whatever it takes to get it up."

Deitrich knows that winning is going to take teamwork, delegation of tasks, and group decisions.

"The neatest thing for these kids is the problem-solving that goes into making this thing work," he said. "It's the process; it's a good learning experience for them."

Not only is the rocket challenge a learning experience for the students, but Dietrich has learned a few things, too.

"Be a little bit more patient with the preparation of the rocket," he said. "Don't rush the launch."

Dietrich has been team supervisor for three years, although he was always interested in model rockets in his youth. He refers to himself as a "born-again rocketeer."

"There's a deep satisfaction in knowing things you have learned are helping launch something into the sky," he recalled of his own experiences as a young boy. "This helps bring these concepts home to the real world for the students."

Team America Rocketry Challenge is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. Co-sponsors are NASA, the Department of Defense, the American Association of Physics Teachers and 38 AIA member companies.

The competition is part of an effort to encourage aerospace careers among young people.

Copright © 2007, Times Community Newspapers.