We have lift-off

Russellville’s Team 2 rocket launches successfully.

With three teams from Franklin County among them, student rocket-enthusiasts from across the state converged in Florence Saturday for the inaugural UNA Rocketry Challenge.

“I think it went very well,” said AMSTI’s Lee Brownell, who coordinated the new competition. Although predicted high wind speeds threatened the launch for a time, the event was ultimately able to go on as scheduled.

The Challenge consisted of two parts: a rocket launch and a presentation. In the presentation phase, rocket team members had to present themselves well, both in terms of their composure and decorum as well being able to explain the technical details of their rocket design and construction.

Russellville High School’s Team 2 participated in the competition. Team 2 comprises young, new talent for the Russellville team, which has a lot to live up to, following last year’s international success for Russellville. Sponsor Mark Keeton said his team performed well at the Rocketry Challenge – their first launch competition.

“After the presentation, the first kid who walked in to tell us how it went said, ‘We didn’t screw up!’ They had a really solid presentation, so if they didn’t screw up, they did really well,” Keeton said.

Russellville’s Team 2 wound up taking third place in the UNA Rocketry Challenge with the combination between the launch score and the presentation score, coming in behind Fort Payne and Cullman. The team nabbed the award for second-place rocket launch.

One – perhaps unconventional – point of pride for Keeton was actually a moment when his team met with difficulty.

“They had a little mishap; they were going to do a practice launch, and their motor fell out,” Keeton said. “They’ve had it easy so far. They haven’t really had anything malfunction. So they needed a mistake where they could learn for next time.”

Mishaps and malfunctions almost ruled the day for the Phil Campbell team, which actually started the challenge day with no rocket to launch.

“Their rocket had crashed Thursday,” Brownell said. “I said, just come. We’ve got Russellville’s team there, and we’ve got all these guys from Huntsville who are the top model rocket people in this part of the state … Somebody will help you get a rocket built.”

Brownell said the team came and, with a little help from Russellville Team 1’s Andrew Heath and others, were able to fabricate a rocket and still compete. For their perseverance, the team was honored with the Aerospace Specialties Products Apollo 13 Award – the “blood, sweat and duct tape award,” Brownell said. “The judges decided that should go to Phil Campbell.”

PCHS wasn’t the only team aided by Russellville Team 1, which did not actually compete in the UNA Rocketry Challenge – instead assisting others for the day.

“A lot of the teams needed a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and they were able to be there to help,” Brownell said. “I think that’s their goal, really, is to be able to help other teams get to Washington. Tracy (Burns) said (Russellville team member and daughter) Katie told him, it’s good if they can get back to Washington, but their goal is to help other teams get there too, so it isn’t just the Russellville show.”

East Franklin Junior High School also competed in the UNA Rocketry Challenge; Red Bay High School was unable to attend.

Several teams launched in an attempt to qualify for the Team America Rocketry Challenge in Washington, D.C., held mid-May – the competition that sent Russellville to France last year.

“My goal this year – my lofty goal – was for three teams of the ones we had here to go to Washington,” Brownell said. “I really think we’ll be able to do that.”

Brownell said his hope for next year is to get even more schools and teams involved, to engage even more students – from Franklin County and across the state – in STEM disciplines. “Competitions like this,” Brownell said, “give kids a reason to do the math and the science.”