
DATE: Friday, May 23, 1997                  TAG: 9705230678

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY NIA NGINA MEEKS, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHINCOTEAGUE                      LENGTH:   93 lines

STUDENTS HAVE A BLAST ON NATIONAL SPACE DAY OCEAN LAKES HIGH'S ROCKET CLUB LAUNCHES ITS STUDENT-MADE PROBE AT A NASA FACILITY.

Amid murals of space shuttles, photos of planets and an astronaut's suit, 24 Ocean Lakes High School students gathered to brief NASA technicians on Thursday morning's project.

The Rocket Launch club members planned to launch their experimental probe into space. Well, at least into the air. High in the air.

It seemed a fitting task for National Space Day - even if that meant loading onto school buses at 5 a.m. to make it to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore.

The club draws students from all of Ocean Lakes High's programs - gifted to regular. With its complex charts and meticulous work, the club is a unique way to give the average public school kid challenges that many incoming college engineering majors haven't even done.

``Yes, I'm nervous,'' 15-year-old Justin Andrews said as they unpacked the shuttle. ``I just don't want it to blow up.''

Last year, a similar group from Ocean Lakes tried the same feat. That group launched a slender 13-foot rocket some 1,000 feet. Gizmos inside the craft - a payload consisting of computer-based labs, high gravity acceleration moderators, biopressure probes - measured the altitude, temperature and speed of the craft.

``The very fact that they were able to put something together that is computer-driven is commendable,'' said Lakshman Narayanaswami, an aerospace engineering professor at Embry-Riddle University in Florida. ``This would not be an expected requirement for an entry-level student for engineering.''

The 1997 club members wanted to best their predecessors. They had all the notes from last year. They had the equipment. They had the drive.

If only they didn't have the wind.

It whipped across the grassy field where their rocket was to launch. Ryan Petzold's nylon jogging suit puffed up in the wind.

``Look, I'm the Sta-Puft marshmallow man,'' the 16-year-old joked.

For the past two weeks, the students have readied their craft. They used the same model as last year's crew, with some $50 or so in repairs. Fixing a tail fin here, adding a new nose, applying a bit of fiberglass and epoxy there. When they got through, their model weighed 1 pound more than last year's.

They fixed glitches until Wednesday night. Some of the students handled shuttle recovery. Others were responsible for documentation and took photos and video for the school's web site.

Launch time came: 10:30 a.m. The Ocean Lakes teachers who co-sponsored the project stood by, as anxious as their students. Jeff Goldstein, a computer and math teacher, supervised.

The countdown began: ``10, 9, 8. . . .''

Then it stopped.

The weight of the rocket bent the launch pole, swinging the rocket to an awkward angle. The NASA crew found a new pole.

The countdown began again . . . and stopped.

The wind swayed the rocket off angle. The launch team scrambled to fix it.

``Just launch it,'' teacher Brian Alexander muttered. ``They're moving it over 5 degrees!''

Others sighed along with him when a 2-minute delay was signaled. The countdown began again.

``3, 2, 1 . . . Fire!''

Nothing happened.

The kids groaned.

Then sparks flew from beneath the rocket. It wiggled off its stand then shot into the sky.

``Ooh, ooh, ooh!'' the spectators yelled.

The parachute shot out. The wind refused to get under it.

``I can't watch, it's going to fall,'' 17-year-old Felicia Adams moaned.

Fall it did, after rising 740 feet, according to the students' equipment. Nose first.

``Ouch! That hurt,'' one student said.

Later, they gathered the remains of their labor. The nose and payload came out OK. The rest was totaled. About $200 in repairs.

The club will dissect its data and try again next year. They hope to break the sound barrier, maybe add a camera.

``I'm disappointed,'' said Jessica Abramson, 14 1/2. She paused. ``But that's the most fun I've had all year.'' ILLUSTRATION: CHARLIE MEADS photos/The Virginian-Pilot

Members of the Ocean Lakes High School Rocket Launch Club hold up

their rocket as David Hahn of the Langley chapter of the National

Space Society attaches it to the launching stand at the Wallops

Flight Facility.

Ocean Lakes students survey the damage done to the rocket, after it

crashed onto the ground when its parachute didn't open properly

because of stiff winds. Only the nose and payload survived the fall.

The students' rocket went 740 feet up. Last year, one went about

1,000.