New Orleans students win NASA's moonwalking vessel prize

A group of New Orleans high school students crafted their own moonwalking vessel and won a trip to space camp for their expertise.

Six students from Mt. Carmel Academy, The Academy of the Sacred Heart, Ridgewood Preparatory School and Pearl River High School teamed up to compete against

Students had to design a portable, pedal-driven vessel modeled after the moonbuggy used by the Apollo rover team over the moon 30 years ago. Judges watched as the teams assembled their buggies and raced through a half-mile obstacle course, said Matt Wallo, senior manager of manufacturing engineering at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Michoud Operations. Lockheed Martin sponsors an Engineering Explorer Post at the University of New Orleans, a program for high school and university students to brainstorm and design engineering ideas. The winning students all came from that program, Wallo said.

The students started working on the vehicle last September, and besides taking home trophies, they'll attend a weekend trip to space camp, Wallo said. Lockheed Martin, UNO and other organizations donated funds and space for the project.