Skyline High School's Physics Club Qualifies for National Rocketry Challenge

After months of planning and building, after months of test flights and design tweaks, and after three nail-biting qualifying attempts, ’s Physics Club has earned a spot in the prestigious Team America Rocketry Challenge.

To qualify, teams from around the country had to build a rocket that could fly to a height of 750 feet within 40 to 45 seconds then safely parachute a raw egg back down to the ground in one piece.

Paul Allen - known for his love of science and science fiction - would be proud.

Out of the 600 teams that attempted to qualify, only 100 were invited to the national event. “It’s definitely very much a team effort,” said James Richardson, the club’s president.

The Physics Club began their rocket project by designing a near-perfect rocket on the computer. Plugging in different figures and requirements gave them specs for a rocket that would do the job. After that, it was time to build.

Getting to design and build their own unique rocket has been one of the high points for the club’s members. Many of the teams from around the country buy specially-made kits and put together off-the-shelf rockets. Skyline Physics Club members are proud to have built something all their own and succeeded with it. 

“We get to go somewhere with something that we built, that we completely made from scratch, which is cool,” said Max Sherman.

Club members are quick to point out that their success wouldn’t have been possible without the help of their mentor, David Walp. Father of one of the club members, Walp is a longtime rocket enthusiast who’s been able to provide the club with know-how and encouragement.

“Without him we would have struggled,” said Richardson.

That’s not to say that the project has been easy. Every team interested in competing at the Team America Rocketry Challenge gets three qualifying attempts. They have to declare that they’re making an attempt before the launch, then cross their fingers and hope all their hard work measures up. 

The club’s first attempt was disqualified, and their second attempt, while permissible, went off poorly. It came down to their third and final attempt. The rocket leapt off the ground just like it was supposed to, shot up to the required height and released the egg just like they planned. Everything looked good.

Then one of the parachutes got tangled up, causing a bit of a panic. The remaining chute did its job, though, and returned the egg safely to the ground. That third launch earned the team a score that safely qualified them for the national event.

“I’m super proud of their results,” said Becky Fowler, physics teacher at Skyline High School and the club’s advisor. “They’ve done a lot of hard work and they’ve worked together really well.”

The Team America Rocketry Challenge takes place on Saturday in Virginia. The top 10 finishers will split $60,000 in cash and scholarships. Top teams are also invited by NASA to participate in the Student Launch Initiative, an opportunity to design and build an even bigger rocket.