PEABODY — Nicholas Leras, an 11th-grade student at the Covenant Christian Academy in Peabody, has the world in his hands. 

Let’s just say the sky’s the limit — literally.

Leras recently qualified for the U.S. National Model Rocketry team that will compete in the 2025 World Spacemodeling Championship in Zrenjanin, Serbia next August.

Sponsored by the National Association of Rocketry, the team will compete against teams from 24 other countries. Leras will be competing in the S5B Scale Altitude competition, and will be competing both as an individual and as a team member.

Leras said the S5B Scale Altitude event is an extremely challenging event, combining attention to detail and performance skills. Modelers must recreate an exact scale version of a rocket that has flown for a government or private enterprise. After being judged on how beautifully and accurately the rocket is constructed, the rocket is launched toward space with an altimeter to determine its highest flight. 

“I will probably build a model of the Canadian Black Brant, which is a sounding rocket that is very streamlined and looks very cool,” Leras said. “I will have to give the judges a data pack containing blueprints, diagrams and photographs detailing the actual rocket prototype I have chosen to build. The judges then use this data pack as part of their evaluation of my model’s accuracy.”

“I can build my model rocket out of anything that will be lightweight and will look good after I paint it,” he said. “Most people use fiberglass tubes for the body and use a 3D printer for the finer details. After judging, we will launch the rockets to measure the highest flight. The total score is the scale score plus the altitude score.”

Leras qualified for the national team this past August in Pueblo, Colo. He said, “I had no idea what I was getting into” and that for the first few months of preparation, “there was a very steep learning curve as the rockets used in the world competitions are performance models, not off-the-shelf kits.”

The world championship is modeled after the Olympics with an opening ceremony in which teams march in in uniforms carrying their country’s national flag. The event lasts a week, and each day’s competition ends with a medal ceremony, which includes Olympic-style medal stands and the raising of the home country flags of the winners while the national anthem of the gold medalist is played.

Leras’ interests in model rockets began at age 8 when he and his sister attended a summer science camp sponsored by the Wakefield Recreation Department. He’s been building — and flying — model rockets ever since.

“It’s a fun hobby, especially if you like to build other things, like I used to build airplanes and tanks when I was little,” Leras said. “Rockets are more fun because after you build them, then you can actually fly them. Being able to see and test these principles firsthand, with rockets you actually build yourself, was very exciting and really got me interested in science when I was younger. Model rocketry has been a great introduction to physics for my sister and me.” 

He started with what he described as simple, easy-to-build plastic model rocket kits, eventually moving on to the NARTREK Cadet program. The NARTREK (National Association of Rocketry Training Rocketeers for Experience and Knowledge) program is a four-level, self-paced skills program. 

“It teaches you how to build more complicated and higher-powered rockets,” Leras said, adding that he punched his ticket to the national championship after completing the program.

The World Spacemodeling Championship is organized under the auspices of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which is the governing body for all aspects of international aviation sports. The World Spacemodeling Championships are held every two years, most recently in 2023 in Austin, Tex. 

Leras plans on majoring in either chemical engineering or aerospace engineering in college. He hopes to stay in model rocketry and work with real rockets in the future.

His dream job? To work for a company like SpaceX.

But for now,  Leras, who has never traveled outside of North America, is focused on school — and getting to Serbia.

“There were a lot of failures along the way,” Leras said. “Honestly, I thought that just qualifying for the National Flyoffs in Pueblo was great. I was thrilled when I found out that I had actually qualified for the U.S. team and I am very proud and excited to represent the USA next summer.”

Anne Marie Tobin

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