CRRC prioritizes opportunities to give back to the community and support our youth.
This spring the Whitney M. Young Magnet High School Aerospace Team competed in NASA’s 2024 Student Launch Challenge. The annual competition requires middle/high school and college/university students to design, build, and fly a high-powered amateur rocket and scientific payload.
Whitney Young’s team of 12 traveled to Huntsville, Alabama earlier this year. NASA selected 70 teams representing 24 states and Puerto Rico to compete.
CRRC helped the team achieve their goals by allowing them to build their rocket, secure a number of motors and prepare the internal hardware.
Students designed a SAIL (STEMnaut Atmosphere Independent Lander) payload. NASA set the requirements: it must deploy mid-air, safely return to the ground without using a parachute, and be reusable to launch the same day without repairs or modifications. The payload must contain a crew of four STEMnauts, non-living objects representing astronauts. Students chose metrics to determine the endurance of the lander, considering acceptable descent and landing parameters.
Upon returning home, the team took their NASA rocket from this year and last year to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago to demonstrate their aeronautic prowess to the public. The students helped deliver the STEM message of what high school students are capable of when given the right tools and have the dedication and drive to succeed.
Way to go!
