Rockets '09 launched in Central Texas

GILLESPIE COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) - In a Gillespie County cow pasture, six miles south of Fredericksburg, a group of high school students strides across a pasture.

One of young people carries a large rocket, designed to roar off a launch pad to an altitude of exactly one mile. His name is Jordan Saucedo and he is a member of South Austin's Akins High School rocket team.

"We've got a really beautiful rocket, greatly painted," he says. "I'm really excited. I mean, we even decided to put 'Akins High School' right here; that's actually custom made, so that's pretty cool. I really enjoy this."

Saucedo and his team members have been designing and building their rocket for weeks and a lot is riding on the effort. Previous Akins teams went to Gillespie County in each of the last two years.

Competing in the Ignite SystemsGo Aeroscience program, both pulled off perfect launches. In both cases, however, the parachutes that were supposed to return the vehicles safely and gently to the ground, failed to properly deploy. Unfortunately, the rockets hit the ground at 200 mph, and the wreckage was not pretty.

Determined to redeem the Akins reputation at Rockets '09 , the students gathered a few hundred yards away from the launch pad and held their collective breath. The founder of the 10-year-old Systemsgo program, Fredericksburg High School teacher Brett Williams keyed a two-radio and began to count down.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, ignition," he said.

The rocket lingered on the pad for what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a second or two. Then, launch!

In a heartbeat, it was in the sky and disappearing from view, the roar of its engine still drifting over the cow patties in the pasture.

Ooos and ahhs emerged from the students, teachers and volunteers. Then they dissipated as heads arched backward, eyes heavenward in search of the rocket returning to Earth.

"Nice, there's a parachute right there!" Akins teacher Kyle Voge exclaimed amid a raucous laugh.

There were cheers and high-fives all around.

"Recovery!" Williams exuded.

The rocket, safely buoyed by its parachute, slipped behind a tree line in the distance and landed in the middle of a farm field. A recovery team arrived and Voge picked up the rocket. He held it to his ear, listening for the telltale electronic beeps from inside. Those beeps reveal the altitude the vehicle reached: just over 3,000 feet, well short of the mile goal.

No one worried much about that, however.

"You know, there's that chance of failure; failure's an option with this," said Williams. "I mean, if we had it set up where we had NASA engineers doing all the work all along the way, these students wouldn't be learning anything, nor would they have that desire to try."

Besides, the result of the Akins performance hardly qualifies as failure. Their work, you see, is just beginning.

They will head back to Austin, ready to pour over the data recorded by the rocket and compare it to weather conditions during the launch. In the process, they will try to discover exactly why the rocket traveled skyward short of a mile.

It is called R&D, research and development. It is also called education and after all, it actually is rocket science.

The event continues through the weekend. Besides the mile-high vehicles, the event will also feature larger rockets, designed to surpass the speed of sound on the way to altitudes of close to three miles.

Spectators are welcome and directions can be found on the Rockets '09 Web site .