Student Rocket Blows Away Records

Some California students set a series of records when their homebuilt rocket blasted to 470,000 feet at hypersonic speed in a launch from the Black Rock Desert in October. The University of Southern California's Rocket Propulsion Lab, a club made up entirely of undergrads, published a paper on the project in November detailing how they shattered records that have stood for 20 years. "This result establishes Aftershock II as the fastest and highest amateur rocket of all time," the paper claimed. The previous record of 370,000 feet was held by CSXT's GoFast rocket.

Aftershock II was about 45 feet tall and weighed 330 pounds. It broke the sound barrier two seconds after liftoff and the engine burned for 19 seconds, pushing the rocket to Mach 5.5. when the engine cut off. The craft kept climbing to 470,000 feet when the nose cone separated and descended under a parachute. It was recovered from the desert and the onboard sensors were analyzed. The whole thing lasted less than 13 minutes.