A friend of mine from FL, Chris, took these amazing shots of the second launch at TARC Nationals of the  Spring Grove Area Intermediate School team that placed 9th overall at the competition.  Great job Rocket Scientists!

After the top 102 teams were announced, the Spring Grove team held practice launches, built an additional rocket, painted their rockets, was featured in a local newspaper and in general was prepping for Nationals.  On Monday, the week before Nationals, this happened.  Turn up your volume to hear the altimeter beep out 856 ft, the exact height wanted for the launch at the finals.  The team was ready!

Click below for a full list of TARC 2020 rules and requirements.  Note the new name (The American Rocketry Competition) and logo, but still TARC.

Over the next several days I will show you the journey of the Spring Grove team before the National Finals.  It really starts, even though we don't have any pictures, back in August and September when the teams were designing their rockets on a computer program called RockSim. Ove the course of November, December and January the team was turning their deign into a reality by building it.  They learned construction techniques and completed the finishing touches to ready the rockets for launch.  

Next comes the first flights, which we do have pictures.  The teams have to launch their creations and see how close to the target altitude and time range their rocket could get as well as if it could protect the egg passengers. Along the way, parts would become damaged, fall into a retention pond or tree and need to be repaired or rebuilt.

This is an amazing photo of the Spring Grove team watching one of their two flights leaving the pad on Saturday during the Team America Rocketry Challenge National Finals. The team placed 33rd after their first flight and their second flight took them all the way up to 9th place where the team will share a prize of $5000. It was an amazing weekend. Additional updates from the Nationals trip this past weekend will be posted his week.

The Spring Grove Area Intermediate School team will be traveling to compete in the National Finals for Team America Rocketry Challenge.  The top 102 teams will be competing for a chance to win part of the $100, 000 in prize money available to the top 10 teams.  Congratulations Rocket Scientists!

A photographer visited the high school Monday during the TARC team's work session.  The team was preparing their rockets for Wednesday's practice launch of their rockets for the Team America Rocketry Challenge Nationals this weekend.  Later in the session the team was interviewed by phone for a feature article in the York Dispatch newspaper.

The time in between when the top 101 list that will advance to TARC Nationals and the competition itself is the time for practice and preparation.  How much is enough, is always the question.  Will the weather hold out, an even better one.  Last week our Intermediate School team completed a few practice launches preparing for Nationals.  The launch below was the best one of the group.  The video on the left is the full launch and the video on the right is the final altitude.  Turn up the volume!  

Yesterday we had the opportunity to run a rocket building workshop at the Windy Hill senior center.  A dozen people built rockets that we were then able to launch on the grounds.  Everyone had a great time and we will be planning one again in the fall.

The flight in the video is the last scored flight for the rocket that took first place in the Target Altitude competition.  The rocket posted heights of 990ft and 999ft when the goal was 1001ft. Below, team members Hayden and Elijah listen to the 999ft altitude on the altimeter!

The rocket launch for elementary school students is still on today. Pl ease dress for the weather and boots would be a good idea due to the wet grass. Motors are $5 each and can be paid with cash or check payable to SGASD. Large rockets will start on a B motor and small and medium rockets wil start on an A motor. You may fly more than once if interested. There will be drinks and additional rocket kits available for purchase as well. Thank you for supporting our Rocketry team!