Western Cape pupils headline South Africa’s first triumph at global space contest
Seven high school learners from the Western Cape formed a core part of Team SA, which claimed first place at the prestigious International Space Settlement Design Competition held at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. Selected via the inaugural South Africa Space Design Competition hosted at the University of Cape Town, the group were the only African representatives at the event and won the international title on their first attempt.
The team competed against established school teams from around the world and partnered with peers from the United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, China and the United States to form the multinational team named Rockdonnell. Their project, Hermes, proposed a futuristic spacecraft capable of transporting 3,000 people across the inner Solar System.
The Western Cape learners held critical roles throughout the competition. Their work ranged from engineering defence and systems design to public presentation and creative concept development.
“Team SA worked so cohesively together that we all deserved this award. I was just the on
The quote above was provided in the original report and reflects the spirit of collaboration that Team SA emphasised during the competition.
Who made up the team
| Learner | School |
|---|---|
| Zayaan Abdurahman | Mondale High School |
| Joseph Allderman | Westerford High School |
| Benjamin Honigwachs | Bishops Diocesan College |
| Alaya Kaplen | Cannons Creek Independent School |
| Qayalah Omar | Cannons Creek Independent School |
| Ethan Schoombee | Fairmont High School |
| Dean Weich | Bishops Diocesan College |
Individual recognition and roles
Beyond the overall team victory, Westerford’s Joseph Allderman received the Anita Gale Creative Genius Prize, one of only four such awards granted across the entire international competition. The original report notes that Team SA members also took on prominent presentation and technical defence roles during the gruelling judging process — for instance, Qayalah Omar was highlighted as a key presenter, while Benjamin Honigwachs, Joseph Allderman and Ethan Schoombee defended engineering aspects before aerospace experts.
Local pathway to a global stage
The Western Cape pupils were chosen following the first South Africa Space Design Competition at the University of Cape Town, an initiative that aimed to identify and prepare promising learners for international space engineering contests. The national competition offered a platform for high school teams to engage with complex, interdisciplinary challenges in systems design, sustainability and human factors — skills increasingly in demand across South Africa’s growing aerospace and advanced manufacturing sectors.
For the Western Cape, the achievement underscores several local assets: established independent and public schools producing high-performing learners, tertiary institutions creating pathways into STEM, and growing interest among youth in space-related careers. The victory may also help strengthen links between schools and universities that host space-focused outreach and training.
What this means for learners and schools
- Recognition on an international stage boosts individual university and scholarship prospects for participating learners.
- The win highlights the value of early practical experience in engineering design, systems thinking and public presentation.
- It could encourage schools and education funders to expand extracurricular STEM opportunities, particularly in aerospace, robotics and applied physics.
Organisers and educators who supported the team were not named in the original report. The schools involved benefit from the publicity and may leverage the result to attract partnerships, mentors and further funding for STEM programmes.
While the immediate impact is celebratory, longer-term gains would depend on sustained support — mentoring, laboratory access, and curricula that allow practical, project-based learning. For learners across the Western Cape, Team SA’s success offers a clear example of how local talent can compete and succeed on the world stage when given the right platforms.
Team SA’s win at the International Space Settlement Design Competition is a reminder that South African learners can not only dream of the stars but design credible systems to reach them. The next step for these learners will be converting the experience into continued study and careers that strengthen the province’s and the country’s scientific capacity.
