When the "moon dust" had settled Saturday, teams from Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan., and Graff Career Center in Springfield, Mo., were winners in the 6th Annual "Great Moonbuggy Race" in Huntsville, Ala.
The Pittsburg State number 4 team, winner in the college division, will receive a trip to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to view a Space Shuttle launch.
Graff Career Center, the winning high school team, will be rewarded with a weekend trip to Space Camp at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. Plaques were awarded to Arizona State University's number 2 team, from Tempe, and the number 2 team from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, the second- and third-place college teams.
Monterey High School's number 2 team from Monterey, La., and Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif., were the second- and third-place winners in the high school division; they also will receive plaques.
The best design award went to the College of New Jersey in Ewing in the college division, and Graff Career Center in the high school division. "The moonbuggy race is intended to inspire students to confront the kind of hard tasks that NASA takes on, so they will be ready to carry on the mission," said Dr. Jim Dowdy, University Relations officer with the Education Office at Marshall Space Flight Center.
The 28 teams entered in the competition, representing five high schools and 14 universities, raced their versions of the moonbuggy over a half-mile course of simulated lunar terrain at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The race was sponsored by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, developer of the original Lunar Roving Vehicle; the Space & Rocket Center; the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics; Sci-Quest and the Alabama Aerospace Teachers Association.
The college teams included Arizona State University in Tempe; Cameron University in Lawton, Okla.; North Dakota State University in Fargo; Ozarks Technical College in Springfield, Mo.; Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, Kan.; Purdue University in Indianapolis, Ind.; Southern Illinois University in Carbondale; Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield; College of New Jersey in Ewing; University of California in Santa Barbara; University of Evansville in Evansville, Ind.; University of Puerto Rico in Humacao; University of South Alabama in Mobile; and University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
High school teams represented Autauga County Technology Center in Prattville, Ala.; Eastlake High School in Chula Vista, Calif.; Graff Career Center in Springfield, Mo.; Monterey High School in Monterey, La.; and Spring Valley High School in Columbia, S.C.
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