Students from the Sweyne Park School in Rayleigh, Essex, beat 97 other teams comprising some 500 students to become the national champions of the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge (UKRoC).

The Sweyne Park team will now represent the UK against teams from the USA, France and Japan at the international finals to be held on 23 June at the Paris International Airshow.

A record number of entrants to the competition this year saw the highly competitive national final go down to the wire, with the closest winning margin in the competition’s history.

Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS Group (the UK trade organisation for the space and aerospace industries), said: “To succeed in the increasingly competitive global market, the UK must have a steady stream of talented and inspired young people coming through with qualifications in science, technology, engineering and maths.” (www.adsgroup.org.uk)

Paul Davey, UK business development director at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said: “Lockheed Martin is a strong advocate of engaging the next generation with the possibilities of STEM projects and careers.

“We support the UK Youth Rocketry Challenge’s approach of taking young people outside the classroom and showing them how subjects like maths and science can be exciting and rewarding. We are confident they can go one step further and win the international finals next month.”

Competing at Stow Maries Aerodrome near Maldon, Essex, the Sweyne Park School students made final tweaks to their rocket in accordance with results from a series of previous test launches, working to strict measurement conditions and a target altitude of 775ft, with the aim of ensuring that the ‘passenger’ — a raw egg — remained intact throughout the launch and landing.

By taking part in UKRoC, the team gained an insight into the design, engineering and testing process used by those working in the aerospace and space industries.