WASHINGTON, D.C., April 19 – The Aerospace Industries Association today
announced the top 100 finalists for the second annual Team America
Rocketry Challenge-the world’s largest model rocket contest. A field
of more than 600 middle and high school teams-more than 7,000
students-was narrowed down in regional fly-offs to the top ranking 100
teams. The students were asked to design, build and test a model rocket
that could fly as close to 1,250 feet as possible with a payload of two
raw eggs, and then parachute the eggs back to the ground unbroken. The
top 100 teams come from 31 states across the nation. A list of the
teams is available at www.rocketcontest.org.

The finals will be held on May 22, at Great Meadow, The Plains, VA,
just outside of Washington, DC. The winning teams will share a prize
pool of $60,000 in savings bonds and cash. The only national rocket
competition for middle and high school teams, the Team America Rocketry
Challenge is sponsored by AIA and the National Association of Rocketry
(NAR), in partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) and 20 AIA member companies. NASA has contributed
additional prizes, including a chance for students to build an advanced
rocket and the opportunity for teachers to attend an advanced NASA
rocketry workshop, meet with NASA engineers, and tour the Marshall Space
Flight Center.

AIA President and CEO John W. Douglass said AIA had originally created
the contest as a one-time event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of
flight, but had decided to hold it again after receiving hundreds of
requests from students, teachers and parents. AIA’s goal in this
contest is to encourage students to enter careers in aerospace fields,
he said, adding that this year’s performance requirements for the
model rockets would remain quite challenging. He noted that only one
team last year–the winning team from Boonesboro, MD– hit the altitude
goal of 1,500 feet perfectly without cracking the payload of two raw
eggs.

Guests at the finals will include U.S. Senator Mike Enzi from Wyoming,
NASA engineer and author Homer Hickam, the original “rocket boy” who
inspired the movie “October Sky,” David King, Director of the
Marshall Space Flight Center, Craig Steidle, NASA Associate
Administrator for the Moon/Mars program, Adena Loston, NASA Associate
Administrator for Education, and Patricia Grace Smith, FAA Associate
Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation. In addition, NASA
astronauts Jay Apt and Charlie Walker will attend the event.

For more information about AIA’s Team America Rocketry Challenge,
including details on how to sponsor a high school team and to apply for
press credentials to attend the finals, visit
www.rocketcontest.org.

-AIA-

See AIA’s Web site at www.aia-aerospace.org

P.A. Rel 2004-12, 04.19.04