By Alanna Stafford, Staff Writer

Over the past few weeks, Mrs. Statman’s senior physics class prepared to launch their homemade water bottle rockets behind the school. Students used two 2-liter bottles, duct tape, and fins to construct the rockets. They used Mrs. Statman’s bottle launcher and air pump to add air into the bottle. When a pin was pulled, the rockets shot into the air, leaving students in awe and sometimes slightly nervous. They continued through phases where they added a parachute and eventually an egg that had to remain whole throughout the launch. The parachute had to be able to self deploy in the air, thus releasing the parachute and slowing the rocket’s descent. “The rocket didn’t launch right away and when they pulled the string, the launcher started to fall. It was pointing right at me! I had to dive to the side to avoid being hit by the rocket. It was a bit scary, but funny too,” said senior Jessica Tomiczek.

This week, Statman’s seniors launched their final rockets. They had to spin, deploy a parachute and safely deliver an egg to the ground. Students had been tirelessly working to perfect their rockets in preparation for the final launch. They all travelled to the football field hoping that they would have a successful launch, and that it wouldn’t end in a crunch. After the launch, some rockets were in mint condition while others were a crumpled mess. “Though it was a failure when the parachutes didn’t deploy, I love watching the rockets fall to the Earth and hit the ground at very high speeds. It usually ended up destroying them,” said senior Lance Neuscheler.