Fifth-grader Jacob Wilson had high hopes Sunday for his 40-inch white, gold and black rocket named in honor of his deceased grandfather.

But when launched from a field covered by corn stubble southwest of Lawrence, “Grandpa, I Miss You” went more horizontal than vertical and plowed into the fertile soil. It was among 40 rockets fired in the afternoon by Cordley School Rocket Club, with about half of the projectiles following unanticipated trajectory.

No matter, Jacob said, because the after-school club has proven to be a great way of bringing science and math to life.

“Next we’re going to be building high-powered rockets,” he said. “It’s going to be real sweet.”

About 20 students and a few parents started the club this spring at Cordley, 1837 Vt. It proved so popular that enrollment doubled this fall, and students were split into a junior club for kindergarten to third grades and a senior club for fourth through sixth grades.

The group is financed by the Cordley parent-teacher organization and donations.

More than 100 people attended the launch party, joining in the countdowns and following each rocket’s path into the sky.

Matt Costabile, the unofficial head “rocket guy” with the club, said members went through a 12-week program to prepare for launching the rockets. They studied rocket design, aerodynamics and propulsion systems. Student blueprints were assessed for viability with a computer software program. Club members also built their rockets, mostly from paper and plastic.

“The overall goal is to learn skills of project management,” Costabile said. “These kids will digest anything you can throw at them.”

Porter Burdett, 8, recovers her rocket, Thunderhawk, deep in a stubbly cornfield. Porter is part of the rocket club at Cordley School. The rocket club, its supporters and other observers gathered Sunday to shoot off the club's rockets.

He said veteran club members would start work on larger rockets with a capability of rising 6,000 feet and carrying modest payloads for science research.

“We will offer other schools payload space,” he said.

Before authorizing firing of the first rocket, Costabile stood in the back of a truck and presented the key lesson of the day.

“We don’t catch rockets,” he said. “I’d really like to not have anybody skewered.”

Cordley sixth-grader Kelly Aiken said he was pleased with results from launching his Triforce 2.

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“I wouldn’t be surprised if it went 700 feet,” he said.

His rocket went straight up for several hundred feet before arching to the north. The parachute deployed properly and the shell floated to the ground.

Just one minor glitch after touchdown.

“My parachute caught fire,” said Kelly, who dreams of one day flying to a space station. “I’ll fix it.”

The rocket Thunderhawk takes flight Sunday southwest of Lawrence.

Phoebe Clark, 7, Lawrence, talks to Bob Gent, also of Lawrence, while he works on the detonation pad. Gent is a sponsor of the Cordley School rocket club. Students launched about 40 rockets Sunday, despite difficulties with the detonation pad.