The Tauranga Intermediate team competing at the country's first ever rocket challenge came home with silver medals from the competition in Auckland at the weekend.

A successful launch for Tauranga Intermediate.

Organised by the New Zealand Rocketry Association, the competition required entrants to successfully fly an egg closest to a height of 150 metres and return it to the ground undamaged.

Broken or cracked eggs resulted in disqualification.

Tauranga Intermediate's first attempt was short of the target 104 metres, but their egg was undamaged. On the second round, by which time the day – and the eggs and warmed up, Tauranga Intermediate was one of the few to successfully land an undamaged egg.

The heights were recorded by miniature onboard altimeters.

A total of 10 teams entered the first schools' competition, mostly from the Auckland region.

Next year the competition looks tougher as intermediate schools will be tasked with designing and flying a two-stage rocket and return vehicle for their ‘eggonauts'.

There is also talk of a water powered bottle rocket competition being established for primary schools.