For one morning at least, Crab Meadow Beach in Northport was transformed into Rocket City.
The three-year-old St. Anthony’s Rocket Club set up in the parking lot Sunday, and one by one teams blasted off. The frigid air and early launch time did nothing to cool the teenagers’ enthusiasm.
They made final checks of their craft – hollowed out tubes that possessed altimeters, parachutes and an egg – gauged the wind and then fired their rockets skyward. The goal was 750 feet and back in under a minute with the egg shaken but not scrambled.
No it’s not rocket science.
But St. Anthony’s, which finished 24th in national competition a year ago, did get an invite from NASA. The club will travel to Alabama to launch an eight-foot rocket in a NASA-sponsored competition in April.
This day was merely about testing, tinkering and camaraderie. That’s all the right stuff for these high flyers.
