McKinney High Students Blasting Off to NASA Rocket Competition

In a farm pasture near Gunter — about an hour north of Dallas — a group of McKinney High School students blasts a NASA rocket just before dusk with the push of a red button. With a roar, it climbs nearly 3,000 feet toward the sky in a fiery blaze, leaving a trail of smoke and the smell of gunpowder in its path.The crowd holds its breath. The rocket has never soared that high before. "We did it," says junior Alex Macias, a member of the school's Flying Lions Rocketry Team. "You never know if it's going to work or not."Jubilant cries, hugs, high-fives and shouts of "oh my God" and "huzzah" come from students, parents and mentors on the grassy field below as they watch the rocket's flight, cranking their necks and cellphones upward until it was only a speck.   Continue reading...