![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2023\/05\/ENG-Spring-2023_Magazine_Rocketry-1800x1165.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t resemble other rockets.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead, it was much better.<\/span><\/p>\n Adorned with water-colored tigers, astronauts, palm trees and sun bursts painted along the 11-foot-6-inch projectile\u2019s fuselage and wings, the Auburn University Rocketry Association\u2019s (AURA) entry into the NASA University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) competition April 12-17 in Huntsville, featured a handful of special artists.<\/span><\/p>\n A team of young patients \u2014 with guidance from select AURA members decked out in traditional \u201cgame day\u201d Hawaiian shirts \u2014 spent the afternoon of Feb. 13 at Children\u2019s of Alabama decorating the high-powered rocket with a special collection of personalities, imagination and style.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wish I could shrink myself and go inside the rocket,\u201d said Cole Murphy, a 7-year-old \u2018Children\u2019s of Alabama Miracle Kid\u2019 who was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was 3 and completed his treatment at the downtown Birmingham hospital in May 2022. \u201cI\u2019d like to be an astronaut and go into space because they have maps. But I might get lost in space, so that would be scary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In alignment with the hospital\u2019s \u201cFor Brighter Futures\u201d campaign, AURA President Preet Shah, a senior in aerospace engineering, beamed about teaming with Children\u2019s of Alabama, where they can make a small difference.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOutreach projects such as this give us the opportunity to be kids again,\u201d Shah said. \u201cAs we go through engineering studies, there can be a lot of pressure and we sometimes forget how to enjoy ourselves with the little things in life. Here, interacting with and watching these kids makes us happy. Though many of these children have suffered, and the parents have suffered with them, we are confident that with the team and staff at Children\u2019s of Alabama, they have brighter futures.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Children\u2019s of Alabama, a private, non-profit facility, is the only free-standing medical center in Alabama dedicated to treatment and care of children. Located in the heart of downtown Birmingham, Children\u2019s of Alabama had more than 694,161 patient visits and 16,074 patient admissions in 2022.<\/span><\/p>\n Charlie Ann Shepherd, coordinator of Community Development at Children\u2019s, watched as AURA team members gathered paint for the kids and shared, some one-on-one, with patients how the rocket works.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLook at these kids. They are having so much fun,\u201d Shepherd said at the event. \u201cWhen I think of them getting to be a part of something that\u2019s going to fly for Auburn University and the rocketry association, they get the opportunity to tell the story of Children\u2019s Hospital as it soars into the sky. That\u2019s exciting for our children and for the students here working with them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Diagnosed with spina bifida in utero, 6-year-old Logan McCool spent the first 30 days of her life inside Children\u2019s neonatal intensive care unit. Countless hours and years of physical therapy later, she is learning to walk in custom orthotics, plays with friends at school and dreams of becoming a veterinarian.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cToday was super special! I had a lot of fun at the paint party,\u201d said the 2022 Local Children\u2019s Miracle Network Hospitals Champion. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI painted a rocket ship on the rocket ship, and that\u2019s pretty funny. But hey, I just have to go with it,\u201d McCool said with a laugh. \u201cI painted the rocket ship green and yellow on the wings, and orange on the fire which makes it go into the sky.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Brian Thurow, the W. Allen and Martha Reed Professor and chair of aerospace engineering, said AURA team members are \u201ctruly emblematic of the ideals Auburn Engineering strives to embody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI am extremely proud of the entire AURA team and their participation in this project with Children\u2019s of Alabama,\u201d he said. \u201cAs stated in the Auburn Creed, \u2018I believe in the human touch, which cultivates sympathy with my fellow men and mutual helpfulness and brings happiness for all.\u2019 This is just as true for our engineering students as it is for any other students on campus. In addition to their noteworthy technical achievements, AURA has a long history of integrating outreach into their club activities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Part of Auburn University\u2019s nationally ranked Samuel Ginn College of Engineering, AURA works to manage and connect students with all aspects of rocketry, including design, propulsion, payload, mission analysis and return to earth. Members gain significant hands-on experience, not only in launch vehicle design, but with NASA technical standards, documentation, budget and briefings, all of which are invaluable to a career in the aerospace industry. Through a variety of launch competitions, aerospace companies can acquire a fresh perspective with innovative ideas and research from student teams, which is imperative for America\u2019s endeavors in deep space missions. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNot everyone will wind up building rockets beyond college, but the teamwork that goes into it is an important aspect of our learning experience,\u201d said Ignacio Castro, a senior in aerospace engineering and AURA\u2019s chief engineer. \u201cProfessors, they come up to us and say, \u2018This is what you\u2019re going to encounter when you\u2019re going to work on a team for a large company.\u2019 We run into problems all the time that need to be resolved and we resolve them ourselves. There are many long nights in the lab, which can be somewhat stressful. But at the end of the day, we get the job done.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur team makes for great engineers. They have that real life, hands-on experience that employers want. You can show them something tangible. \u2018Hey, look what I\u2019m building. This is what I\u2019ve been working on.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Shah said the team learns technical skills in the classrooms, but it has the opportunity to explore what they\u2019ve learned even deeper by building and testing the rockets. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou gain that insight into what you\u2019re going to learn in class sometimes before you take the class,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n At the NASA USLI competition, teams were assigned weeks of design proposals, interviews and inspection\/milestone checks were highlighted by a day of competition that required teams to launch rockets between 4,000 and 6,000 feet.<\/span><\/p>\n Official results, based mainly on the design proposals, will not be released until June.<\/span><\/p>\n Prior to USLI, AURA \u2013 and 13 teams from peer institutions \u2013 were challenged March 24-26 at the Argonia (Kansas) Cup to launch a rocket 9,000 feet then drop a golf ball as close to a pre-determined target as possible. In other words, a 5-iron approach shot from the stratosphere.<\/span><\/p>\n How close did they come? Only one-fifth of a mile \u2014 closest to the pin.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cArgonia was one of our biggest learning experiences to this day,\u201d Shah said. \u201cWe were one of only five teams to successfully ignite both stages. We had some issues, but our performances at USLI and Argonia are a validation for all of the hard work and hours we put into our program. The rocket we brought to NASA USLI in Huntsville was special. We might not have won the overall event, but those children are the real champions.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Castro considered his afternoon at Children\u2019s of Alabama, \u201cby far the most fulfilling thing I\u2019ve done in the four years that I\u2019ve been part of this team.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSome of the kids we were collaborating with want to be engineers down the line,\u201d Castro said. \u201cI can\u2019t think of a better way to get them even more inspired and see something exciting. You never know, some of these kids might be next-generation engineers. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always a special feeling knowing that something you worked on for hours, particularly in a team environment, soars into the sky and completes the tasks you designed it to complete. It\u2019s even more rewarding knowing part of our creation is carrying special handiwork. I hope this is the beginning of a long-lasting partnership between AURA and Children\u2019s of Alabama,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2023\/05\/ChildrensHospital2.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2023\/05\/ChildrensHospital_A1.jpg\")
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ecm.eng.auburn.edu\/wp\/emag\/files\/2023\/05\/ChildrensHospital3.jpg\")