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Rocket Brothers Blast Off to American Rocketry Challenge National Finals
LAGUNA HILLS, April, 2024 - Brothers, Sawyer Ashland and Finn Ashland, have been invited to the American Rocketry Challenge Finals in Washington, D.C., where select teams will compete for the honor of representing the U.S.A. in the International Rocketry Challenge. The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocketry competition.
Aspiring aerospace engineer, Sawyer Ashland, leads a local rocketry team along with his brother, Finn Ashland, in the American Rocketry Challenge. The national contest has been running for 22 years, inspiring about 90,000 young rocketeers into careers in STEM. Only the top-ranking teams are invited to the National Finals in Washington, D.C.
With Sawyer leading design, simulations, and assembly, and Finn leading fabrication, they spent seven months on a mission to safely launch and return a raw hen's egg. They did this while targeting specifications, including altitude and flight time, set by the national competition. Over 920 teams across the nation were doing the same.
After about 25 test flights, many scratched launches, their vehicle getting stuck in a muddy launch site, and several rocket casualties, they were sure they wouldn't get a rocket dialed in before the competition deadline. It seemed each time they neared their objective, they experienced debilitating setbacks.
Discouraged, they continued building and launching. While some equipment and time was lost, they retained their designs to rebuild the same framework, and data from previous launches to allow them to continue to adapt to environmental conditions.
They were elated when, despite continued unstable weather, they had a test flight meet their intended specifications. They swiftly notified a National Association of Rocketry official they were ready to attempt a qualifying flight. Finn recalls, “I was really pleased with how it went, and the score we got was even better than our test launch.” The impressed official witnessed not just one, but two outstanding flights, giving them a phenomenal score to give the national competition.
They submitted their results to contest officials, as did likely over 5,000 other kids across the country. A few weeks later, they received an invitation to the National Finals, as one of the top-scoring teams in the nation. There, they will compete with other select teams for the honor of representing the United States of America in the International Rocketry Challenge.
After this challenge, they hope to go on to share their model rocketry expertise with young rising rocketeers. And who knows? They may just design the rocket that takes us to Mars.
Bryce Ashland, Team Advisor added, “I’ve witnessed Sawyer and Finn grow in their leadership and ability to work through problems as part of a team.”
Sawyer Ashland concluded, “This experience helped me understand the process of engineering, and made me want to do it as a future career.”
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