KINGSFORD, Michigan USA — John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, and Neil Armstrong...they all started somewhere.  So why can't the next great American astronaut come from Kingsford High School? Students in the school's High Power Rocketry Program have been building and designing rockets since 1998.

"If even one detail is off," Student Stanley Ritsema said, "the entire thing could either not go off or shoot off in the wrong direction."

Ritsema and his classmates have been perfecting these rockets all summer long...making sure they're ready to launch up to 5000 feet in the air this weekend.

"There's an altimeter in it," Program Advisor Bill Bertoldi said.  "When the rocket goes up it curves and starts coming down, and it can feel the pressure increase and a small parachute goes off."

In order to build these high powered rockets, students study general physics, chemistry, and engineering principles.  They're all subjects stressed in the state's curriculum guidelines.

But the program isn't just about increasing test scores. It's about raising interest to create more scientists and engineers...two professions that government officials say are desperately needed.

"If they can do the hands-on things and actually do and apply what they've learned," said Bertoldi.  "You see a lot more students go into it."

The rockets are scheduled for take off from Groveland Mine this Saturday afternoon. And as for these students, many of them will be taking off for college science programs next fall.

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