Newport flies at the Team America Rocketry Challenge National Finals and finishes 15th in the nation.
A Newport team finishes second in the country at the Team America Rocketry Challenge National Finals.
History · 2015–2026
A decade of launches, late nights, snow days on the field and national finals, collected from the club's own posts.
- 1st & 2nd2022 National Finals
- #2in the world, 2022
- 6thin the nation, 2026
In memory
Bruce Buswell 1956–2026
“It was never about the winning, it has always been about failing and learning.”
For years Bruce stood outside with us every weekend, for hours, in the biting cold, volunteering one-on-one help and lifting our spirits through our biggest disappointments. He was honored as an outstanding mentor of the year in 2024. This flight log is dedicated to him.
The bench will stand at 60 Acres Park, where we spent countless weekends launching rockets together.
2015
2016
The new season starts at the launch field. New members fly their first rockets, and the veterans test a higher-power motor.
2017
The club takes on NASA Student Launch. Its half-scale test rocket is already huge, and the full-scale rocket is designed to fly a mile high.
Newport submits its proposal to NASA Marshall for Student Launch 2018, pulls late nights to finish the Preliminary Design Review, and presents it to NASA engineers.
2018
The rockets are packed and shipped a week early, and the team follows them to the National Finals near Washington, DC. The egg payload rides in style.
Six members earn their National Association of Rocketry Level 1 certification, which qualifies them to fly high-power rocket motors.
Team captains train new members at the season's first launch, and mentor Bruce Buswell talks every team through its flight before it goes up.
2019
Qualification flights go up in sun, rain and snow. The team keeps flying until the scores are good enough for Nationals.
Newport flies at the National Finals and shows its competition rocket to members of Congress at Rockets on the Hill in Washington, DC.
Two new freshman teams join during the year and the club gains many new members.
Members run a rocketry table at Somerset Elementary's STEM fair.
2020
Winter launches go well, then COVID-19 cancels the 2020 National Finals. Newport still takes first place in the Northrop Grumman Debriefing.
2021
2022
Teams Graveyard and Meeska Mooska are selected as National Finalists. Teams DAD and Safety Second are named alternates.
At Great Meadow in Virginia, Newport takes first and second place at the American Rocketry Challenge National Finals, the best two scores among 99 finalists from a field of 724 teams in 41 states. The win earns a trip to represent the United States in England.
KING 5 covers the win, the team is celebrated at a Bellevue School Board meeting, and Representative Adam Smith visits with a Congressional Record statement honoring the national champions.
Representing the United States at the Farnborough International Airshow near London, Newport places second at the International Rocketry Challenge, behind Japan and ahead of France and the United Kingdom.
2023
The club celebrates the year at its end-of-year party and a new leadership team takes over.
2024
2025
Two weeks before Nationals, Redmond firefighters pull up to a launch with their ladder truck.
Teams Meter and Order 66 fly at the National Finals and Newport finishes in the top 30. Order 66, the first all-freshman team at Nationals since 2014, places in the top 25.
One last launch day before everyone flies off for summer.
2026
At the 2026 National Finals, Team Fusion places 6th. Team Flight 0 finishes 12th and wins first place in the Northrop Grumman Foundation Mission Debriefing Challenge. The crew of the International Space Station sends a video congratulating the top 100 teams.
Seven students are elected to lead the club in 2026–27, headed by the club's first all-female executive board.
Members volunteer at WISE Camps, helping campers at Chinook Middle School and Newport High School build their own model rockets.
Our mentor Bruce Buswell passes away. The club is raising funds for a memorial bench at 60 Acres Park, where we spent countless weekends launching rockets together.