The Durango High School Aerospace Design Team has been invited to take part in the International Space Settlement Design Competition to be held at the Kennedy Space Center later this month.
The competition poses a design challenge and allows only hours to solve it. The DHS team has won the international competition in 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2013.
A corporate sponsorship that paid for the team to compete fell through this year after a buy-out.
The Durango Education Foundation came through, however. It gathered contributions from the Bill and Diane Mensch Foundation, StoneAge Tools founders John Wolgamott and Jerry Zink, and then added money from its own Student Competition Travel Fund.
In addition to the five international trophies, the DHS squad has won national titles in 2009, 2012 and 2013 and the NASA Ames Grand Prize for design in 2010.
daler@durangoherald.com