WVU students soar to first place

WVU’s Experimental Rocketry team was first in the 10,000-foot altitude launch category at the Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering Competition in Las Cruces, New Mexico on June 20-24.

More than 100 teams from around the world competed in the event, which is run by the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association.

The six-member team from WVU crafted a 12-foot long fiberglass rocket – emblazoned with the words “Wild and Wonderful” – that soared more than 9,600 feet with a 9-pound payload.

In April, the team went to Price, Maryland, for a test flight at a Tripoli Rocketry Association event where their rocket reached an altitude of 9,100 feet.  

Team members are Cameron Hale, a petroleum and natural gas engineering major from Blaine, Kentucky, mechanical and aerospace engineering majors Matt Hines (Buffalo, WVU Honors College), Austin Hodges (Millsboro, Delaware, Honors College), Zach Maddams (Claymont, Delaware, Honors College) and Kevin Nadler (Southbury, Connecticut), and chemical engineering major Nick Haynes (Princeton, Honors College).