The first 750 teams to submit an application package postmarked on or before Nov. 15 will be allowed to compete in the 2006 event. About 10,000 middle and high school students participated during the last contest, which a team from the Dakota County 4-H Federation in Minnesota won in May.

The contest is sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry. The Defense Department and NASA are both government partners in the fourth annual TARC and 39 AIA member companies are supporting the event financially. Student team members, which can be from schools or non-profit educational groups, must design, build and fly the rockets themselves.

Rules covering the 2006 contest require the team to launch the rocket 800 feet in the air and keep it aloft for 45 seconds. As in the past, the rockets will carry a raw-egg payload that must return unbroken. It is the first time both elevation and time are factors to the teams' success.

Winners will share $60,000 in cash and savings bonds. Successful teams may also go on to take part in NASA advanced rocketry programs.

Teams have until April 9, 2006 to qualify for the final round of competition scheduled for May 20 at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va. The registration fee is $110.

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