At NASA’s University Student Launch Initiative competition, The University of Alabama’s Rocket Girls have eaten dinner under a rocket, heard an astronaut speak, won awards and sent a rocket of their own nearly a mile into the sky.

Representing the University, the Rocket Girls left Wednesday for the USLI competition after extensive preparation.

USLI is a competition that challenges university-level students to design, build and launch a reusable rocket with a scientific or engineering payload to one mile above ground level.

The team proposed participation in the fall and worked throughout the academic year to complete and submit documents and designs, as well as actually working on “Dottie,” its 84-inch rocket. Thursday was the first day of competition, during which Dottie underwent safety inspections. The rocket was inspected as if it were in flight, and the team was given a “punch list” of errors to correct.

“Fortunately, our list only had two minor things that were easily fixed,” team captain Shelby Cochran said. “We brought the rocket back tonight for them to sign off on the changes. We are now go for launch.”

The team was recognized at a banquet at the Space and Rocket Center’s Davidson Center on Saturday night.

“We ate dinner under the Saturn V, listened to an astronaut speak and accepted awards given for the reports, presentations, websites and educational engagement,” Cochran said. “Our team was mentioned for our outreach (educational engagement) for reaching over 3,000 people.”

The Rocket Girls also have an education outreach program that consists of workshops and displays for students of all ages. In the past, the team has presented at local schools, libraries and the McWane Center.

The current team is focusing on the quality of outreach events, with a goal of reaching 2,000 people, including 500 students between sixth and eighth grade.

“The team members encourage diversity in engineering, science, and mathematics for each outreach event by reaching out to females in grades K-12 to ensure they take an interest in such subjects in the classroom,” according to their website. “The Rocket Girls allow for personal interaction with students by allowing the children to have creative and hands-on experience with rockets, science, and math intensive activities.”

The original Saturday launch was postponed due to rain last week, so Dottie did not take off until Sunday. Cochran said the team had to be prepared for such delays.

“Postponed launches are part of our lives as engineers,” she said.

On Sunday, Dottie reached an altitude of 4,971 feet, just below the one-mile goal.

“Our flight was beautiful, and all of our parachutes and electronics worked as intended,” Cochran said. “We were extremely happy with this launch because our scientific payload used grid fins on the rocket, which are uncommon and unpredictable.”

The team’s success with the use of grid fins for flight control broke new ground at the USLI competition.

“Other teams have attempted to use grid fins in the past, and another team even tried this year but were unable to launch due to parachute malfunctions,” she said. “We are the first team to have successfully used these nontraditional fins in competition.”

A Post Launch Assessment review will be submitted by May 5, with a winner announced by May 17. Regardless of the outcome, however, the team has already pleased freshman team member Haleigh Ball.

“I like it when the rocket doesn’t crash,” Ball said after safety inspections.