It’s official: Boeing-sponsored model-rocket launch breaks Guinness record
STEM event in Rocket City one of many held to mark Apollo 11 anniversary
3 … 2 … 1 … world record!
The successful, simultaneous launch of 4,923 model rockets – accomplished at a Boeing-sponsored event to mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission in 2019 – officially earned Guinness World Record status on Aug. 7.
The launch was conducted at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on July 16, 2019, as part of worldwide model-rocket builds and launches supported by hundreds of Boeing volunteers and community partners. The Huntsville attempt included 5,000 model rockets built by local students with help from the volunteers.
Promoting science, technology, engineering and math, the STEM events took place 50 years to the day that NASA astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins launched atop a Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on the mission that would put Armstrong’s and Aldrin’s footsteps on the moon.
Boeing and its heritage companies built the Saturn V. The company now manages its NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program from Huntsville, providing NASA with the core stages, avionics and upper stages of an even more powerful launch vehicle that will take astronauts back to the moon as part of NASA’s Artemis program.
By Maribeth Davis
