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Rocket Competition: Opportunity for OR Students to win $59,000 Team Prize

September 12, 2002
WASHINGTON, DC-Today, Congressman Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) urged high school students in Oregon to participate in the "Team America Rocketry Challenge" which runs through April 2003.

"This contest is a great way for Oregon science students to learn about rocketry through a hands-on project and compete in a national competition," said Rep. Blumenauer. "An Oregon victory would be a great honor for the students and Oregon schools."

The contest celebrates the 100th anniversary of powered flight in 1903; it is a not-for-profit event sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry.

Five winning student teams will share a prize of $50,000 in savings bonds, and their teachers' departments will share $9,000. The top 100 teams will launch their rockets, and prizes will be awarded, on April 23, 2003 in Virginia.

Students must design, build and fly a multi-stage rocket weighing less than 3.3 pounds and carrying two raw eggs and an electronic altimeter. The goal of the flights will be to come as close as possible to 1,500 feet in altitude and to bring the eggs back to Earth unscrambled.

To qualify, each team must schedule and conduct one, and a maximum of two, flights in front of an adult member of the National Association of Rocketry no later than March 9, 2003. The observer will record how close the rocket came to exactly 1,500 feet and verify that it flew in accordance with the contest rules.