Student Rocketeers are Headed to Nationals

EWU’s Aerospace Club will take their rocket to new heights—up to 10,000 feet—at this year’s International Rocket Engineering Competition in Midland, Texas. 

The annual IREC competition, held June 9 -14, will host more than a thousand students from the U.S. and beyond to compete for the title of the best rocket. To qualify, EWU’s Aerospace Club sent in a 30-page application detailing the mechanics and makeup of their propulsive projectile. Along with 175 other teams, they were notified of their acceptance in November of 2024. Since then, they have built, modified and extensively tested their 10-foot-tall payload bearing rocket.

“Our goal, and the goal of the competition, is to make a rocket that can deliver a two kilogram payload 10,000 feet into the air,” says Keegan Phillips, a mechanical engineering student and the Aerospace Club president. 

A “payload” is anything a rocket carries into space, or in this case, the air. For EWU’s rocket, its payload will be a modified, plush-toy version of Swoop. 

“We’re going to put a GPS tracking system and camera inside him,” says club member, Jayden Moreland. “Swoop will be ejected at 10,000 feet of elevation, and the GPS tracking system inside of him will allow him to fly back to us autonomously.”

Since Eastern’s beloved mascot doesn’t actually have wings, Moreland says the rocketeers will stitch up Swoop to fit him with a hand-made parachute. He will also be equipped with a 360-degree-view selfie stick that, if all goes according to plan, will obtain video footage of Swoop’s flight. 

“The payload is experimental,” says Phillips. “We haven’t done anything like it before. We want to get video not only of Swoop flying around, but hopefully, footage of Swoop leaving the rocket.”

Their footage will be submitted to a separate video competition at the IREC, Phillips says. 

The 11 member EWU team has worked for months to perfect the rocket and develop the electronic mechanisms of the payload. The rocket, made with fiberglass and pressed carbon fiber, has a bow-tail design. Several of the team members focused on metal-working to assemble it, while others learned sewing to handcraft Swoop’s nylon parachute, which has a diameter of 12 feet.

“It’s a lot of specialization,” says Phillips. “We researched electronics and, as a team, simulated the flight path.”

These electronic simulations were important, Phillips adds, because test launching the rocket was no simple task. Due to height restrictions, each test launch needed to be performed in a remote location with FAA approval. “Some teams don’t make it to the competition because their rockets fail during this stage of testing,” Phillips explains. 

But EWU’s team successfully tested their rocket in the Tri-Cities, and are now ready to compete at the IREC next week. For Aerospace Club members, this competition is not only an opportunity to show off their rocketry skills, but also a chance to network and collaborate with international students. 

Their travel to the Texas competition, as well as $9,000 worth of rocket materials, were funded by a grant from the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The funding was supported by generous lead gifts from Jim and Vee Martin and Mark and Lisa Haisch. Members say the funding was crucial in the team’s ability to make it to the competition. 

“The Aerospace Club at EWU is a way for students to experience the aerospace industry, including exposure to rockets, planes and drones,” says Phillips. “The IREC competition is an extension of this.”

The members say the invitation is open to students from all majors to check out their club and potentially get involved in the aerospace industry. 

While the club builds rockets, it’s not all rocket science, says Phillips. “Some people think that they can’t do this, but a big part of the Aerospace Club is trying things that you haven’t before and learning along the way,” he adds.  

Story written by Avery Knochel.