Thursday, May 25, 2006

CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN TEAM FINISHES MIDPACK IN WORLD’S LARGEST ROCKET CONTEST

Colorado Springs, Colorado — Three students from two Cheyenne Mountain D12 middle schools competed in the finals of the prestigious Team America Rocketry Challenge, the world’s largest model rocket contest. 100 teams flew, and the Cheyenne Mountain team placed 48th. Our flight was an aberrant 850 feet high, but our duration was too short, when it should have been too long since the parachute ejected beautifully at apogee. We had 3 test flights the previous day and if we’d been able to maintain consistency, we would have scored in the top 20 or so. We learned a lot and will be better prepared next year to place in the top ten. We had problems in 3 areas which can all be fixed. The award we won was the Boeing Teamwork award. Our team worked together and had tremendous fun doing it, which was obvious to the judges. We had our prep and setup (which was much more complex than average) down to a science, and each team member worked efficiently  and cheerfully to launch successfully. Hearty congratulations to Noelle, Jacob, and Tanner.