Bellevue eighth-graders win international rocketry challenge

BELLEVUE – A team of eighth-graders from a public middle school in Washington state has won the International Rocketry Challenge in London.

Five students from Odle Middle School in Bellevue beat out teams from Japan, the United Kingdom and France to win Friday’s competition at the Farnborough International Airshow.

The teams designed, built and launched rockets that had to reach an altitude of 850 feet within 44 to 46 seconds. The rocket had to carry two raw eggs.

The team, named “Space Potatoes,” represented the U.S. in the international contest after beating out more than 780 teams across the country in this year’s Team America Rocketry Challenge. The team was sponsored by Raytheon Co.

The students range in age from 12 to 14 and included: Mikaela Ikeda, Stephanie Han, Srivatshan Sakthinarayanan, Karl Deerkop and Larry Jing.