The Objective: To build a boat to carry two people, and race it through white water rapids.

The NASA team opted for a jet boat, similar to a jetski. They turned down the hull fo an exsisting jetski and made thier own hull from two large oval tanks. There was considerable worry about them finishing ontime (which they didn't ;-) and the weight of the craft (the expert was thinking it would be too heavy).

The other opted for an inflatable raft with a fan/propeller in the air to move it. The raft had constant problems with holes in it, so they opted to fil it with foam. Theirs was very light and they built it with time to spare.

It was quite intimidating seeing the second team in their run, it was quite fast , I did not expect it to go so quickly. However the nasa team (fittingly named the "rocket men") set to the water and were tearing up thier competitors time, that is of course until thier drive shaft broke on the way back. While the other team made two more runs to improve thier time the rocket men were able to repair the drive shaft and make one more run. They won with a best (only) time of 1:18 to 2:00. They moved on to the semi-finals.

Heres hoping I see them win the finals.

-Justin Kelly