Applications for the 2005 Team America
Rocketry Challenge national model rocket contest are available today for high
school and middle school students in the United States at
http://www.rocketcontest.org. The rocket contest will challenge students to
design, build, and fly model rockets that carry one or two raw eggs for
precisely 60 seconds, returning the eggs to the ground unbroken.

More than 16,000 students from every state participated in the last two
contests, making the Team America Rocketry Challenge the world’s largest model
rocket contest. The Challenge provides student teams with a realistic
experience in designing a flying aerospace vehicle that meets a specified set
of mission and performance requirements.

The contest is co-sponsored by the National Association of Rocketry (NAR),
America’s largest and oldest association of sport rocket fliers. The American
Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT) is the Challenge’s sole educational
partner. AAPT is celebrating the “World Year in Physics,” which marks the
100th anniversary of Albert Einstein’s publication of three important papers
that have influenced all of modern physics.

The contest requires that teams be made up of three to fifteen students
currently enrolled in grades 7 through 12 in a U.S. school. Teams will be
composed of students at the same middle school or high school, or members of
the same chapter or unit of a U.S. incorporated non-profit youth organization
(excluding the National Association of Rocketry, Tripoli Rocketry Association,
or any other rocket club or organization). Teams will be supervised by a
teacher approved by the principal of their school or by an officially-
appointed adult leader of their youth organization. Each student member will
be required to make a significant contribution to the design, building, or
launching of the team’s entry and no part may be done by an adult, by a
company or by any person not a student on that team. Supervising teachers may
supervise more than one team.

The first 1,250 teams that submit an application package postmarked on or
before November 30, 2004, will be allowed to compete in this year’s event.
The contest finals will be May 21, 2005, at The Plains, Virginia. The
registration fee is $80. Additional information is at
http://www.rocketcontest.org.

Visit AIA’s homepage at http://www.aia-aerospace.org

Founded in 1919, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is the premier
trade association representing the nation’s manufacturers of commercial,
military, and business aircraft, helicopters, aircraft engines, missiles,
spacecraft, materials, and related components and equipment.