CHARLOTTE, North Carolina USA — Yes, Kegan Beauchemin, Russ Kirkley and Charlie Ogino are rocket scientists.

The Trinity Christian Prep School students beat 643 teams from across the country in early spring, earning a spot at the 2008 Team America Rocketry Challenge (TRAC) National Finals.

The team, named Black Dog Rocketry in honor of the hue of their canine companions and the Led Zeppelin tune, traveled to Great Meadows in The Plains, Va., last month to compete against 99 other groups in the annual rocket building and launching contest, sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry.

The contest is the largest of its kind in the world, attracting more than 7,000 middle and high school students.

Their challenge? Build and fly a one-stage model rocket carrying two raw eggs to an altitude as close to 750 feet as possible, stay airborne for 45 seconds and return the cargo unharmed. While Black Dog Rocketry's flight was close to perfect with 45.08 seconds of airtime, an instrument malfunction took them out of contention for the top spot.

The road to nationals began at the suggestion of Charlie's father, Guy, director of continuous improvement for Goodrich Corp. Customer Services organization in Monroe. Goodrich is a national sponsor of the competition, and Guy told his son about the opportunity after reading about it in a company magazine.

No stranger to science and building fairs, Charlie recruited fellow 11th-grader Kirkley of South Charlotte and 10th-grader Beauchemin from Union County. Goodrich Customer Services was the team's primary sponsor and Charlie's mother, Mary, served as team supervisor.

The boys began working on their rocket design using approved computer programs in fall 2007. The first prototype was scrapped; too small for the required altitude.

"When we built the next one, we had a good baseline of what we needed to do," said Charlie. "Then we came up with the competition design."

By the New Year, they were close to having the rocket ready for spring prequalification trails, minus a parachute. Finding nothing he liked, Charlie brought out his mother's sewing machine and constructed the final part himself.

All finalists had the opportunity to meet the secretary of the Air Force, Department of Defense representatives and employees from Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Aeronautical colleges and training facilities were also on hand.

While the end results were not what had been hoped for, all was not lost.

"It was a beautiful flight," Guy said. "Quite the success with disappointing results."

Copyright © 2008, The Charlotte Observer.