The Richards School rocketry teams will continue to build on past success this year, and again are among the top 100 national teams to launch model rockets under the requirements of the Aerospace Industries Association’s (AIA) American Rocketry Challenge.
The 2025 finalists were announced by the AIA last month, and officials added it is the world’s largest student rocketry competition.
“The American Rocketry Challenge launches not just rockets, but also the careers of the next generation of aerospace innovators, and today is just the beginning for our 100 national finalists,” AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning said. “These teams from across the country have worked all year to bring skill, creativity, and ingenuity to rocketry design and building, and today, their hard work will pay off as they compete in the National Finals. I look forward to seeing these students shine and crowning our next National Champion.”
The 2025 American Rocketry Challenge saw unprecedented participation with a record-breaking 1,001 teams entering the competition in its 23rd year, officials said. The competing teams are composed of middle and high school-aged students from 46 states and Washington, D.C.
To qualify for finals teams designed, built, and launched model rockets that safely carried two raw eggs to an altitude of 790 feet, stayed airborne for between 41 and 44 seconds, and returned to the ground safely.
The AIA National Finals will take place at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va., today, with modified requirements to introduce a new challenge to the teams.
Finalists will compete for $100,000 in prizes and the prestigious title of National Champion. The winning team will then represent the United States and compete at the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show in June.
Sponsored by AIA, the National Association of Rocketry, and 15 industry, government, and academia partners, the American Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue study and careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). The competition has inspired more than 100,000 middle and high school students to explore education and careers in STEM fields.
Other Missouri schools that qualified are Fox Senior High School in Arnold, Columbia Area Career Center in Columbia, Festus High School in Festus, Seckman High School and Seckman Middle School in Imperial, and Center High School in Kansas City.
