Engineering students from the University of Windsor are getting set to launch into a competition no team from Windsor has ever done before.
The school's rocketry team will be taking part in the Spaceport America Cup, happening in New Mexico in June.
The group must successfully fly and recover their rocket after it soars 30,000 feet.
Team member Ben Clark tells CTV Windsor this is the first time they've competed at this altitude.
"It's one of the things I went into this program for. 30,000 feet is pretty hard to comprehend right? If you're to fly from here to Toronto, this might be going higher than where you would be in a plane like that," says Clark.
University of Windsor engineering students construct a rocket (Photo courtesy of CTV's Chris Campbell)
Fellow team member Prashanth Ramesh calls it quite the learning experience.
"Everything that you've learned the past three years comes into play. You learn everything about managing large engineering projects, the risks involved, the time it takes and you learn more about value, about money, time management, engineering skills," he says.
Ramesh points out that experts from Space-X, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin will be watching in New Mexico.
"The previous two years they've done extremely well, but it was at 10,000 feet," he says. "This takes a lot of work, a lot of planning and a lot of money. Who knows? Maybe they will like what we're doing and there are a lot of people who actually get hired."
The group has raised more than $18,000 over the last 30 weeks to make the launch possible.
The team is also taking part in a test launch Thursday in upper Michigan.
With files from CTV Windsor