SPRINGFIELD, Missouri USA — Kickapoo High School took third place in the national Sixth Annual Team America Rocketry Challenge today. The Springield school was one of 100 to compete in in Washington, D.C.

Enloe High School of Raleigh, N.C., took first place with a score of 23.94. Each point represents a deviation from altitude and time aloft targets, so the lower the score, the better.

Mulberry Grove (Illinois) High School took second place with a score of 29.88, while Kickapoo had a score of 30.54.

The contest, sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry, is designed to encourage students to consider careers in aerospace, as almost 60 percent of the U.S. aerospace workforce is 45 or older, according to a news release.

The next stop for the winning team is a trip to the Farnborough International Airshow in London. Raytheon Company, a major supporter of the competition, is sponsoring the team’s trip as part of the TARC winners’ first prize package for the third year, the release said.

All three top winners share a prize pool of more than $60,000, including $5,000 scholarships from Lockheed Martin Corporation and an invitation from NASA to participate in its Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program. Other sponsors include the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics Teachers and 34 AIA member companies.

The rocket contest presented the top 100 teams from around the country with a dual challenge. They had to launch their rockets as close as possible to an altitude of 750 feet with a flight time of 45 seconds, while returning a payload of two raw eggs unbroken to the ground.

About 7,000 middle and high school students on 643 teams from 43 states and the District of Columbia took part in the qualifying rounds of competition. Each team had until April 7 to submit qualifying scores, which were achieved by launching their rockets in their home region under the supervision of a judge from the National Association of Rocketry.

AIA created the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young people

Complete competition results are available at http://www.rocketcontest.org.

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