Rocket Science 101

Rocket science treks to real world, Houston Chronicle

“For nearly three hours, Brett Williams’ 24 teen-age rocket-designers faced one tough question after another from some of NASA’s most experienced aerospace engineers. But the outcome was no smackdown of Generation Y. The polite juniors and seniors from Fredericksburg High didn’t falter before their interrogators and methodically detailed their plans to build and launch a Red Bird rocket this spring. At the end of the design review session, the graying space agency engineers, some with experience dating back to the Apollo era, praised the poise and talent of the youths — a few of whom may find a career at the space agency in the years ahead. “I’d have given my right arm to be in a class like this,” said Lee Graham, a 25-year veteran of NASA’s Johnson Space Center who leads the planning for a moon lander. “This is exactly what we need to inspire the next generations of engineers and scientists.”