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Maharishi School rocket team finishes fourth in nation The Maharishi School rocketry team finished fourth in the nation in this year's Team America Rocketry Challenge, sponsored by Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, and others. Over 800 teams entered the competition this year. Their task was to design, build, and launch a rocket to go exactly 775 feet high and land in 41–43 seconds, with a payload of a raw egg intact. Earlier this spring, the Maharishi School team's two qualifying flight scores earned them an opportunity to enter the national finals with the top 101 teams held earlier this month in The Plains, VA. After a Congressional Reception on May 12, meeting a former astronaut, and seeing some Washington, DC sites, the team got down to work. The launch results on Saturday morning, May 13, would determine whether they made the cut of 24 finalists for the afternoon launches. Their rocket came within 12 feet of the target height and their landing time was almost perfect. They were on to the final 24 fly-off round. Despite choosing to delay their second launch three times, when they finally ignited their rocket, it responded with an even better score than their first launch and was third best out of the 24 competitors. The combined scores for both flights earned them fourth place overall and $10,000 in college scholarships, $1,000 for Maharishi School, and invitations to the 2017–2018 NASA Student Launch at Huntsville, Alabama, where the competition target is 5,280 feet with a scientific payload. Team members are Bridgit Bianco, Miles Falk, Wayne Li, and Karthik Vempati, led by teacher Rick Rudloff. © Copyright 2017 Maharishi University of Management
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