SPRINGFIELD, Missouri USA — The Kickapoo High School Physics Club is among 100 high school teams from across the country that will compete in the 2008 Team America Rocket Challenge at the national finals in The Plains, Va. on May 17.

Jack Watts, Adam Legg, Quincy Conduff, Kevin Satzinger, Natalie Rooney, Lara Bower, Robert Fess, Tyler Scroggs, Jean Morano, Caleb Collier, Anisul Huq, Jade Johnson, Brooke McMillin and Michael Jahnke qualified April 5 in Columbia.

“The contest has provided physics club members an opportunity to apply what they have learned in physics to design, construct, and test a real world piece of engineering in the form of a model rocket,” said Jeremy McMillan, Kickapoo physics teacher and club sponsor. “Ultimately, the team built three different model rockets and conducted several test launches before a successful design was found.”

Contest rules stipulate that students design, build and test a model rocket that can fly for close to 45 seconds and soar up to 750 feet without breaking two raw eggs inside the capsule.

The KHS club’s qualification flight, which was certified by the National Association of Rocketry, lasted 43.5 seconds. The rocket lifted 760 feet before returning to earth with the eggs intact.

The winner of the national contest will receive a trip to the Farnborough Air Show in London, England in July; the top 10 teams will split a prize pool of $60,000.

Copyright © 2008, KSPR News.