KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Hardin Valley Academy's AeroHAWKS are national champions.
The AeroHAWKS Team 1 won first place at the American Rocketry Challenge, the world's largest student rocketry competition. They will now represent the country at the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show next month.
The AeroHAWKS Team 2 won 10th in the competition.
Their hard work does not come without reward: Team 1 earned $20,000 and Team 2 earned $5,000. They are also invited to participate in NASA's Student Launch initiative.
This is the club's first year competing in the American Rockerty Challenge.
To qualify, the students had to design, build and launch a model rocket that safely carries one large hen egg to an altitude of 850 feet, stays airborne for between 42 to 45 seconds and returns the rocket to the ground safely. The students must also build the rocket in two parts that separate at the highest point and land with their own parachutes, according to the American Rocketry Challenge's website.
In total, more than 4,500 students from nearly 800 teams in 45 states entered the competition.
