One of the most rewarding events ANN and Aero-TV have
participated in over the last year was AIA's extraordinary Team
America Rocketry Challenge. Fun, inspiring, challenging... all
these words do little to impart the amazing event that we witnessed
and shot over the course of a few days... and we can't wait to do
it again.
However; one of the truly great 'bennies' of this event was
meeting the next generation of America's rocket people... and that
includes the TARC 2010 National Champions, Penn Manor High
School... who went on to the International competition and took ALL
the marbles there as well.
Student Rocketeers from France, the United Kingdom and the
United States competed in late July in the Third Annual
Transatlantic Rocketry Challenge. The four-member team from Penn
Manor High School in Millersville, PA posted the best score to win
the international fly-off. Horsforth School in Leeds, England
placed second. The French team was unable to launch its rocket due
to technical problems. The international rocketry challenge is the
culmination of three separate competitions: the Team America
Rocketry Challenge (TARC), UKAYRoC and the French Rocketry
Challenge.
Each contest brings together teams of middle and high school
students to design, build and launch model rockets. This year the
challenge was to launch a rocket that reaches an altitude of 825
feet, stays aloft for 40-45 seconds and returns a raw egg unbroken.
As part of their score, teams also had to give an eight minute
presentation on their rocket design to a panel of international
judges.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the
National Association of Rocketry in the U.S.; ADS, Tri Polus Ltd,
Space Connections and the Royal Aeronautical Society in the UK; and
GIFAS and Planete Sciences in France, the programs are designed to
encourage students to pursue careers in aerospace. "Based on
today's competition, the future of our industry is looking pretty
bright," said Marion Blakey, president and CEO of AIA.
"The level of enthusiasm of the participants is phenomenal, and
each team deserves congratulations for winning their home
competition and inspiring other students." AIA created the Team
America Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of
flight and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young
people. The success of the program encouraged UK aerospace industry
leaders to create the UKAYRoC in 2007 with similar goals in mind.
Last year at the 2009 Paris Airshow, France announced they would
compete as well in the international rocketry challenge.