Bien Hecho: Puerto Rican Students Win NASA Moonbuggy Race

Students from Puerto Rico took the top prizes in the high school and college division in the NASA Great Moonbuggy Race this year. The teams came from Teodoro Aguilar Mora Vocational High School in Yabucoa, Puerto Rico and the University of Puerto Rico in Humacao. I think these wins are especially pertinent given recent violence against college students in Puerto Rico over a variety of issues and the fact that this country suffers heavy brain drain of its most educated people.

We wanted to report on this great achievement as part of our new weekly segment, “Bien Hecho,” highlighting the good deeds and achievements of Latinos across the U.S. If you feel that someone you know is deserving of recognition, let us know at tips@newstaco.com. According to a press release from NASA:

Teodoro Aguilar Mora Vocational High School first raced in the event in 2010, earning course times that put their twin buggies in a respectable but trophy-less 7th and 9th place among all high school teams. This year, Team II posted a final time of 3 minutes 18 seconds — just one second over the all-time record on the modern Great Moonbuggy Race course. Team I was close behind, delivering a final time of 3 minutes 24 seconds.

Teodoro Aguilar Mora racer Isadora Matta also received an award of special recognition for walking away, bruised and scraped but unbowed, from one of the race weekend’s most memorable crashes.

The University of Puerto Rico in Humacao, the only school in the world to enter a moonbuggy in every race since the event was founded in 1994, rolled to victory in 2010 with a winning time of 4 minutes 18 seconds. This year, the team crushed that previous best, completing the roughly half-mile course — craters, pits, gravel mounds and other obstacles simulating lunar surface conditions — in 3 minutes 41 seconds.

The competition was held April 1-2 and is open to students around the world who build and race the lightweight, human-powered buggies to mimic the ingenuity that put the first U.S. astronaut in space. There were more than 70 teams from 22 states, as well as Canada, Germany, India and Russia.

Held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Florida, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center organized the event, that saw students compete over the fastest vehicle assembly and race times with the fewest on-course penalties. A cash prize of $2,850 went to the first place winners. To see photos check out NASA’s Moonbuggy Flickr.

Follow Sara Inés Calderón on Twitter @SaraChicaD