INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana USA -- It's rocket science but probably not what you think.

Members of Covenant Christian High School's rocket team say their kind of rocket science doesn't really fit the cliché.

"We're not necessarily all the nerds," said senior Emily Hudspeth 17. "If someone said 'rocket team,' I would think all the nerds and exchange students, but we're not."

Going higher: Senior Sarah Kleine participated on Covenant Christian High School's rocket team that placed fourth in the nation at a competition in the spring. Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star

For the most part, team members just want to shoot something in the air. It's an after-school hobby these high-achieving students can add to their already long list of sports and extracurriculars.

"It's not like high-level physics," said senior Jung-Up Park, 18. "It's not like, 'Hey, the rocket team is for smart people.' It's more for fun."

That fun has produced national recognition for Covenent Christian. The rocket team ranked fourth in the nation at a competition in the spring, and members hope for an even higher ranking at the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2007.

"It would be really nice to get first place," said senior Sarah Kleine, one of two returning members from the spring's award-winning team.

The club will have three teams competing at nationals, and each is designing rockets in a computer program.

In the competition, the teams created a rocket -- built from scratch of any shape and size -- to carry an egg 800 feet into the air and return to earth with a parachute in 45 seconds. The Covenant Christian rocket soared to 794 feet.

Now, the terms are a little different: The rocket has to reach 850 feet. The goal is to hit the number dead on.

"It's like playing golf," said physics teacher and team adviser Sean Bird.

Covenant Christian's team also hopes to bring home another plaque for the best-decorated rocket in the competition against 100 others. Junior Matthew Bukowiecki created last spring's winning design, a tough-looking rocket with teeth and flames.

Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who attended the competition in Virginia, signed one of the rocket's wings. "I was honored," Bukowiecki said.

His design now hangs from Bird's classroom ceiling.

Bukowiecki gives few hints about the design he's working on. He says only that it will include flames again but be different from the previous one.

The club also has a new goal. This week, members discovered they are among 25 teams in the country accepted to compete in the 2007 NASA Student Launch Initiative. This honor means they'll get $2,500 to create a more scientific rocket that will conduct an experiment in midair. They'll head to Alabama in April to launch it.

The team created an extensive proposal and Web site to enter the NASA competition.

Although the Team America Rocketry Challenge took all their attention last school year, the NASA program takes a higher priority, Bird said.

That's fine with Jonathan Osborn, a freshman and newbie to the team. He lives and breathes rocketry. The 14-year-old Mooresville resident spent his summer going to church camp and building rockets -- 75 of them.

His interest is pretty simple:

"It's just the ability to shoot things off," he said. He wants to be the one to push the button on the remote control to trigger the rocket's engine.

He also hopes his pastime will turn into a career when he grows up.

"It'd be fun to work for NASA as a tech guy or something."