A team from the Cherokee County School District has been selected for the NASA Student Launch Program.

The Creekview High School rocket team earned a spot in the competitive project open to high-performing teams from universities, high schools and colleges. Middle and high school teams qualify to participate by finishing in the top 20 of the American Rocketry Challenge the previous year. The Creekview team, the 2018 international champion, regularly ranks in the national top 20.

This is the Creekview team’s third attempt to try out the NASA Student Launch Program, and their first time to move past the competitive proposition stage. Only 46 teams from the country have been selected to qualify for the competition.

The eight-month challenge, run by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, “provides a realistic experience for college, high school and college students to follow the engineering design process as NASA and hardware engineers.” , according to the agency.

The teams design, build, test and fly a high-powered rocket designed to: reach an altitude of 3,500 to 5,500 feet, provide a scientific or technical payload and return to the ground safely. Throughout the challenge, students will present information via video conference to a panel of NASA experts in order to take the project to the next stage. The launch will take place in April and teams will be rated on their project’s performance, along with nearly a dozen other categories, including safety, vehicle design, social media presence and STEM engagement, which recognizes their efforts to share their knowledge with younger people. students.

The Creekview team submitted a winning proposal to build a rocket that will deliver an autonomous rover, which, upon landing, will travel a predetermined distance and probe the ground for the presence of water. The rover will transmit its findings by radio signal to the students at their ground station. Tim Smyrl, a science professor at Creekview HS, who is sponsoring the team, said the students are “already seriously developing their preliminary design.” The team is made up of: Michael Pena, project manager; Johnny Schaly, Engineering Manager; Rand Johnson, security guard; Seth Absher, Dylan Cox, Nate Lindsey and Emerson Shi.

“Kudos to Creekview and their amazing rocket team for another impressive achievement,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Brian V. Hightower. “They consistently exceed expectations because of their dedication and hard work, continued leadership from Mr. Smyrl and the families and community partners who support them. I can’t wait to see this year’s project take off. “