Thanks to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama already has a reputation for being home to rocketry. The state now has cause to celebrate that fact, as students from Tharptown High School in Russellville, AL created a rocket that won the top spot in the world's largest rocketry competition.
The team was named the National Champion out of a record-setting 922 teams at this year's American Rocketry Challenge at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. The team has competed six times since 2018, but this is the first time the high school has taken home the victory — in 2023, however, the school placed second. In addition to a prize of $20,000 — and rocketry bragging rights, of course — the students will also now represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough Air Show in July.
