“We used three wings and tail fins on the rocket,” said Reinarts.

Students in grades 3-8 were required to design and build bottle rockets from plastic soda pop bottles. High school students were not required to build rockets but participate in the contest if they wish.

Bottles had to have at least a two-liter capacity and contain two cups of water before 50-60 pounds of air is added to them from a portable air compressor powered by a portable generator. Safety valves are part of the launch equipment to prevent over-pressurization.

Ideally, rockets have limited air drag and spiral like a football with more nose weight than other parts of the bottle. Duct tape is often used to cover the rocket.

New Ulm Area Catholic School 7th-graders Lincoln Reinarts, left, and Grady McMonagle hold the rocket they built.

Third-grade winners were Sawyer Lieser and Lydia Forstner, 4th-graders Gave Remus and Ray Schwab, 5th-graders Aaron Finstad and Hank Kirschstein, 6th-graders Kenlee Wendinger and Brielle Neubauer and 8th-graders Max Fischer and Logan Murphy.

The event is held in collaboration with 3M as part of company’s STEM (science, technoloyg, engineering and mathematics) outreach program.

A pneumatic launch system was built several years ago by 3M Maintenance Planner Josh Abraham. He was joined by 3M Maintenance Senior Specialist Ben Koch and 3M Maintenance Supervisor Steve Seidl.