Not your average race
Not your average vehicle, either

These aren’t your normal roadsters. But they are a lot of fun. And hopefully they’re fast. More than 40 student teams from 18 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada and India have already registered for NASA’s 15th annual Great Moonbuggy Race. The race, open to both high school and college teams, will be held April 4-5 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Student competitors must design, build and race their lightweight, two-person lunar vehicles, modeled after the rovers that Americans first drove on the lunar surface during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971. And while they won’t be driving on the moon, they will race across a half-mile simulated moon surface strewn with obstacles. Moonbuggies race against the clock, rather than side-by-side. If you haven’t registered, there’s still time - but not much. The deadline is Feb. 1. Click here to find out how. "The experience is more than just fun. Participation in the race offers valuable real-world experience in practical engineering, teamwork and problem-solving," said Tammy Rowan, manager of the Academic Affairs Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, which organizes and hosts the race along with the Space & Rocket Center. "These talented, creative young minds learn lessons they'll take back with them to the classroom - and hopefully onward throughout their careers and their lives." The three fastest-finishing moonbuggies in both the high school and college categories win prizes from the race sponsors. Students win additional awards for the most unique moonbuggy design, best overall design, most improved team, best rookie team and most spirited team. Only eight college teams participated in the first Great Moonbuggy Race in 1994 that commemorated the 25th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing. The race was expanded in 1996 to include high school teams. The event is open to the public.

The team from the Huntsville Center for Technology of Huntsville, Ala., braved space-age terrain to win the 2007 high school division of NASA's 14th annual Great Moonbuggy Race at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville. (NASA/MSFC) Lafayette County C-1 in Higginsville, Mo., finished in third place and also won a special development design award in the high school division of NASA's 14th Annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala. (NASA/MSFC) Speeding across a simulated lunar surface, the Rochester Institute of Technology team from Rochester, N.Y., rumbles to victory in the college division of NASA's 14th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala. (NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham) Braving wet weather and a simulated lunar terrain, a team from the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao takes second place in the college division of NASA's 14th annual Great Moonbuggy Race in Huntsville, Ala. (NASA/MSFC/D. Higginbotham)

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