November 14, 2002
Crack up at Eggonaut Competition Friday
Humpty Dumpty’s trip from wall to ground is nothing compared to the perilous voyage facing passengers in the First Annual “Eggonaut” Competition for Earth and Space Sciences.
On Friday, Nov. 15, students from the Space and Space Travel class will launch water-powered rockets carrying raw egg astronauts about 100 feet into the air. The highest flying “eggonaut” to survive re-entry wins.
The competition will take place from 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m. in the field below the Drumheller Fountain. If the weather is too wet or windy, the competition will be postponed until the following Friday, Nov. 22.
Professor Robert Winglee said the students learn the basic principles of space in class, but understanding the actual challenges is very difficult. “And,” he added, “while rocket design is often considered the purview of engineers, this competition offers non-science majors and pre-majors a real opportunity to apply basic principles of critical thinking to solve a challenging problem.”
The Space and Space Travel class is being developed as a prototype for similar classes at state universities around the state. The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, which offers educational and research programs related to NASA’s missions on Earth and in space, will be sponsoring additional opportunities in the spring including high altitude balloons to the edge of space.
