OUT OF THIS WORLD: From Western Cape to Nasa as SA teens make history in global space showdown

Seven Western Cape teenagers just made history as the first South African team to compete, and win, at the prestigious International Space Settlement Design Competition.

For a tense moment inside Nasa’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Benjamin Honigwachs thought the judges were playing a practical joke.

The volunteers announcing the winners began by celebrating nearly everyone else before his multinational coalition, a simulated aerospace company named “Rockdonnell”, was finally announced as the world champions. In that moment, his initial disbelief turned to pure joy.

“I was just filled with joy and relief that all of our hard work paid off,” recalled Honigwachs, a student at Bishops Diocesan College.

Honigwachs is one of seven Western Cape teenagers who made history on South Africa’s first-ever entry into the prestigious International Space Settlement Design Competition, the world’s longest-running space engineering competition for schools. Selected through the inaugural national competition at the University of Cape Town, Team ZA was the only African team on the global stage.

Together, the learners joined participants from the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, China and the United States to form Rockdonnell, the first team in the competition’s history to include representatives from every inhabited continent. Their winning proposal, Hermes, was a futuristic spacecraft designed to transport 3,000 people across the inner Solar System.

Earning a ticket to Florida was a gruelling journey of its own. During the national round at UCT, they competed against 109 learners from nine schools, enduring an intense two-day simulation under real-world pressure. Throughout that weekend, moderators quietly observed who put in the most work to handpick the final roster.

“The selection process to go to the competition was almost like winning the lottery... I still cannot believe that I received the privilege to go,” said Ethan Schoombee.

To prepare, they spent every Friday training intensely under competition founder Jagger Cooper-Doubell, learning how to pitch, design and defend complex engineering ideas under pressure.

“Being a member of the first South African team and the only African team was a blessing,” Zayaan Abdurahman reflected. “We weren’t only representing our schools, we were representing the entire continent.”

Joseph Allderman echoed similar sentiments, admitting the pressure was intense.

“It made me a little bit stressed with the gravity of it all, but it also filled me with a sense of determination... to show the world the talent that our country has in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).”

That determination was put to the ultimate test the moment their wheels touched down in Florida. Throwing the group straight into the deep end, organisers merged the South Africans into a 60-student aerospace giant called “Rockdonnell” for a sleepless, high-pressure weekend sprint.

Their goal was to design Hermes for a journey to Mercury. Almost overnight, these teenagers had to navigate a maze of unfamiliar accents, clashing design philosophies and intense corporate pressure.