Pasco hosts World’s Largest Student Rocketry Competition on Sunday

PASCO, Wash. — This weekend, the nation’s largest national student rocketry competition is taking off from Pasco with students from throughout the Pacific Northwest visiting to partake.

The National Finals of the 2021 American Rocketry Challenge will take place from 9:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. Teams are comprised of 3-to-10 middle schoolers who are tasked with building and flying a model rocket that meets specific challenges and design requirements set by the event’s organizers.

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This year, teams are required to build and launch a rocket that will carry a raw egg to an altitude of 800 feet before having it return to the ground safely with the egg intact. The rocket must remain in the air for 40-43 seconds to qualify.

Competitors will visit from Portland, Seattle, Bellevue, Camas, Mercer Island and Yamhill to face off for a chance to win big prizes. These are the finalists out of the 615 secondary-school students across 43 states, Washington D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The top 100 teams will compete for the title of National Champions and $100,000 in cash and prizes.

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Students faced many unusual hurdles this year including many imposed by the pandemic. Between virtual practices and socially distanced launches, students displayed great restraint in following these guidelines and working on their craft despite difficult circumstances around them.

The launch site is relatively remote; located one mile north of 2881 E Sagemoor Rd. For GSP devices, the coordinates of the drop site are as follows:  Latitude 46.404, Longitude -119.013.

For more information on the American Rocketry Challenge, click here.

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