Competition: ESRA IREC 

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The Aerojet Rocketdyne internship was my introduction to manufacturing and engineering design. I started this project in my Junior year of high school and followed through until my Senior year. This project partnered with engineers from Aerojet Rocketdyne and Boeing to teach high school students how to become rocket scientist. 

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The rocket consists of many different sub systems. I started as just a member on the recovery team and rose to be the team lead. I led a group of 6 of my peers to design, build, and test a two stage recovery system. In the first year of the internship we mainly designed and came up with a plan to manufacture and build the recovery system. The second year was spent doing tests and manufacturing the parachute. 

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The second year we went down to Utah to compete in the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association's competition. Our rocket was the only liquid fueled rocket in the competition.

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For the test we had trouble getting our hands on ethanol to fuel our rocket. The government has regulations on ethanol so in replacement we ended up using Everclear which ended up having the proof we needed to get a good test. 

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At the competition we tried and failed to launch our rocket. Unfortunately  we needed 40 minutes of uninterrupted fill time to properly cool and fill the rocket this caused the rocket to never be lit because of the window of time that the competition had to launch and other rockets launching off while we were trying to fill. From the competition I learned a lot and will never forget the sound of a rocket lifting off into the air. 

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We didn't do as well as we hoped because our rocket never left the ground, however; it created a thirst for engineering for me that has never gone away. 

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