Jim Conrad

WISE, Va. -- No one ever considered kids from the Appalachian Mountains getting involved in the space program until the Homer Hickman, Jr. novel Rocket Boys came out in 1998 followed by the film adaptation October Sky a year later. The book and film were about a young man from a rural coal-mining town becoming interested in rocketry.

Now you'll find folks from NASA in schools and at summer camps throughout the region. One of those camps is going on this week in Wise, Virginia. Middle school students from throughout the county are getting some hands-on experience that includes launching some rockets.

Welcome to Space Expedition 2011, a camp dedicated to rockets, robots, science experiments and astronaut training. NASA's Develop team along with local teachers and the county's rocket team are helping with the program. "I didn't know that we had a NASA team anywhere near Wise County, let alone right in Wise. I had no clue that I would be working with them," said team member Hunter Page.

The idea for a rocket team was planted last year after students began building and launching their own model rockets. Now after some certification they're looking at even bigger rockets. "You can buy you own motors and stuff, basically to the amateur rocketeers you can only buy A though G motors. [We're] getting by this threshold to higher-powered rockets," team member Austin Stidham says.

"We started this rocketry team last summer. We held a big workshop for the students here and some of those are team captains right now. We're setting them up to learn all they can about rockets," Giovanni Colber with NASA said.

The goal is to enter a team  in a contest and win against some pretty stiff competition. "This is really hard," Stidham said. "You could have teammates [that have] been flying all their life and be beaten out by a bunch of 12-year-olds building their first rockets."

So it means the teams had better keep an eye on their counterparts in camp this week.

| Watch Video: Rocket Camp