01
Design
Every rocket starts in CAD and OpenRocket: stability margin, motor choice, parachute size and a padded bay for two raw eggs.
Newport High School · Bellevue, WA
NewportRocketry
We design, build and fly competition rockets. 2022 National Champions, second in the world, and always recruiting.
01 On the pad
Rocketry is engineering you can watch fly.
Newport Rocketry designs, builds and launches competition rockets. Every flight starts the same way: a rocket on the rail, a crew behind the safety line, and a countdown.
- No experience needed
- Tue & Fri after school
02 Ignition
Newton’s third law does the heavy lifting.
The motor burns its propellant and blasts hot gas down, and the gas shoves the rocket up. Motors are rated by letter from A to G and beyond, and each letter packs up to twice the total impulse of the one before.
- Thrust > weight
- Action = reaction
03 Powered ascent
Fins keep it flying straight.
A stable rocket keeps its center of pressure behind its center of gravity, so the fins steer it back into the airflow like a weathervane. We check that margin in simulation before anything goes near the pad.
- CP behind CG
- 1–2 calibers of margin
04 Burnout & coast
The motor is done. Physics isn’t.
After about a second and a half the motor burns out and the rocket coasts, trading speed for height while gravity and drag slow it down. We design every rocket in CAD and predict its flight in OpenRocket before we build it.
- CAD
- OpenRocket
- Test flights
05 Apogee
Hit 800 feet. Exactly.
This season’s American Rocketry Challenge asks teams to carry two raw eggs to exactly 800 feet and bring them back in 37 to 40 seconds, uncracked. Every foot and every second off target counts against you. Newport teams won the 2022 National Finals and placed second in the world.
- 800 ft target
- 37–40 s
- 2 raw eggs
06 Recovery
What goes up has to come down gently.
At the top, a small ejection charge pops the nose off and the parachute opens. A slow, steady descent keeps the eggs intact and the flight time inside the window. We follow the NAR Model Rocket Safety Code on every launch.
- Parachute
- Payload intact
- Safety first
07 Touchdown
Eggs intact. Your turn.
Weekends at 60 Acres Park, afternoons in Room 3104. No experience required: we teach you everything, from motor classes to packing a parachute.
Mission record
- #1American Rocketry Challenge National Finals, 2022, out of 724 teams from 41 states
- #2in the world at the International Rocketry Challenge, Farnborough, 2022
- 6thin the nation for Team Fusion at the 2026 National Finals
- 0experience required to join. We teach you everything.
What we do
Newport Rocketry teams spend the year chasing a single perfect flight: exact altitude, exact time, and a payload that comes home in one piece.
02
Build
Body tubes, fins, payload bays and reloadable motors, built and tested by hand, then rebuilt when a flight teaches us something.
03
Fly
Weekend launches at 60 Acres Park, qualification flights with NAR observers, and a shot at the National Finals near Washington, DC.
Flight log
From a silver medal at Nationals in 2015 to a national title in 2022 and second place in the world, the whole story is in the flight log.
Dedicated to our mentor Bruce Buswell, 1956–2026
Open the flight log- 2016
- 2017
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2022
- 2022
- 2024
- 2025
- 2026
Next on the schedule
Meetings, launches and competition deadlines, all in one place.
Full launch scheduleMeeting Happening now
First club meeting of 2026–27
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 · 3:40 PM–4:20 PM
Room 3104, Newport High School
--days
--hrs
--min
--sec
Club structure, team selection and an introduction to this season's American Rocketry Challenge. Register on FinalForms before you come. It's the only way to be officially in the club.
Join the crew
Ready for liftoff?
Any Newport student can join, and no experience is required. Here's how to get on a team this season.
- 1
Register on FinalForms
It's the only way to be officially in the club. Students and parents both need to finish every form before you can take part in club activities.
bellevue-wa.finalforms.com - 2
Come to a meeting
Tuesdays & Fridays, 3:35–5:00 PM in Room 3104. The first meeting of 2026–27 is Tuesday, October 6.
- 3
Join a team
Teams of 3 to 10 students form in October and fly for the American Rocketry Challenge. Registration closes December 6.