Rocket Men: Fishburne Rocketry Club Works Hard, Aims High
Story content contributed by Mr. Steve Saltzman
Photos courtesy of Mr. Steve Saltzman
Waynesboro, VA–It takes a lot to keep the Fishburne Military School Rocketry Club away from the launch site on launch day! On Saturday, team members bundled up and braved chilly temperatures in order to test their latest rocket design at the local launch field in Monterey, VA. This launch was just one of many successful rocket launches undertaken by the Club, which is part of Fishburne’s growing STEM Initiative.
Cadets William Curt (Port Republic, VA), Alex Sponeman (Fishers, IN), Gavin and Bryson Overton (Sanford, NC) and team captain Samuel Saltzman (Leonardtown, MD) used this latest launch to further test designs in their effort to qualify the team for the national Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) competition. The TARC challenge is the world’s largest student rocket contest and a key piece of the aerospace and defense industry’s strategy to build a stronger U.S. workforce in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The Fishburne team battled through a day of launches in sub-freezing temperatures, but the Cadets were motivated and committed to accomplish their mission of multiple successful launches throughout the day. Demonstrating determination in the face of difficult conditions, the Fishburne Cadets accomplished their goal with flying colors.
In his after-action summary, Club adviser CPT Tom Galloway noted: “This is the closest any FMS
team has come to meeting the qualifying goals and launch consistency the TARC competition requires. They are just 15 ft and 10 seconds off from being a nationally competitive team. Headed by team captain Saltzman, with Curt buffering our logistics, we now are close enough to the TARC specs to be dangerous. Additionally, the Overton brothers made a great contribution to the team, with long-time rocket design/build chief Sponeman holding up his end by handling prep and analysis. It was a cold launch day with wind around 15 mph and snow flurries, which hampered some of the stats, but the boys did an outstanding job at launching and analysis and braving the elements.”
The FMS Rocketeers had one launch at 58 seconds and 835 feet and another at 46 seconds and 795 feet. Their goal is to get as close to 850 feet as possible and have a total flight time of 46-48 seconds with a payload of two eggs oriented perpendicular in axis landing without breaking. The Club’s next launch window is February 6th.
Rocketry Club members have worked very hard designing and building rockets for the competition and they are now defining and narrowing the results of their rocket tests to qualify and be selected for the top 100 teams in the TARC competition. Eventually, they hope to compete in the Rockets on the Hill reception in Washington, DC with the ultimate goal of competing in the national competition in May at the TARC Final Fly-Off at Great Meadows in Plains, VA.
Top placing teams split more than $100,000 in cash and scholarships and the overall winning team will travel to the United Kingdom to complete in the International Rocketry Challenge taking place at the Farnborough Air Show in July.
We wish the entire rocket team much success in this extremely rewarding and exciting endeavor. Follow this link to find out more about the Team America Rocketry Challenge: http://rocketcontest.org/.
Fishburne Military School is the oldest and smallest of all military schools for boys in Virginia. Its college-prep curriculum is built upon the structure of an Army JROTC program. Boasting a 100% college placement rate for the past 10 consecutive years, FMS has also been designated as a JROTC Honor Unit with Distinction and may nominate qualified candidates to the United States Service Academics. Fishburne hosts one of only four Summer JROTC programs in the nation, accredited by US Army Cadet Command.
