It's been a while since I posted here, here's an update! The Indianapolis Star ran a two-page spread on my free High-Power Rocket Bootcamp in last Sunday's paper! The article is linked above (no paywall), and they made a video too: https://www.indystar.com/videos/news/local/2026/10/29/tanaka-chonyera-hopes-to-inspire-next-generation-of-rocket-scientists/92270497007/
A lot has happened since my last post here. On September 24th and 25th, I taught 150 third and fourth graders (ages 9 to 11) to build and launch their own high-power rockets for Lilly's Global Day of Service! These are fiberglass kits flying on the same family of propellant as real rockets, and they went 2,000 feet into the sky!
Day one was the build. We had about 300 people in a school gymnasium, including over 120 volunteers, and I was in the center directing everybody. All 150 kids built their rockets in one day. This is the result of continuous improvements I've made to compress the build time since I started.
Day two was the launch. I searched for low-traffic airports, contacted the director of Sheridan Airport, and he let me close the airport for half the day! We had X's on the runway. I also contacted the adjacent landowner since the rockets would land in their fields. I brought in Indiana Rocketry as our launch partner, and then we filed for the FAA waiver. I had us launch 8 rockets at a time while the kids sat on the runway and watched, then they went out to recover their rockets. I hope It's a day they will never forget!
The biggest technical challenge was that I was the only certified person. That's a massive bottleneck with this many rockets. So I ran trainings four Sundays in a row leading up to the event and trained 25 adult volunteers as my teaching assistants. On launch day I flew their certification flights first so I had certified people helping me run the field. I also brought my experience as a capital projects construction manager at Lilly and applied OSHA's hierarchy of controls to the whole operation. To my knowledge, high-power rocketry has never been done with kids at this scale.
My bootcamp has been completely free since I started it in August 2025. High-power rocketry is an expensive hobby, and most kids never get to experience it. This event cost about $75,000, which is $500 of value per kid, delivered completely free. And every kid keeps their rocket! I want them to be family heirlooms, a reminder that they built something that overcame something as powerful as gravity. I'm very proud of them!
It was the greatest 72 hours of my life! It was incredibly hard work and a lot of long nights, and it was absolutely worth it.
Governor Mike Braun sent me a letter thanking me for mentoring these students in rocketry, and his office read it to the kids at the launch. I'm very grateful for the recognition, and I'm going to keep this going!
Thank you to Lilly, MEPI, Indiana Rocketry, Sheridan Airport, and all the volunteers and supporters who helped make this happen!
Launch video: https://youtube.com/shorts/Et5Stk0SiOI
That brings my total to over 350 kids and 336 rockets! Indiana will have the most rockets per capita in the world! 🌎🚀
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