The Purdue University Theta Tau/Phi Sigma Rho team scored first place with judges and captured the People’s Choice Award today (Saturday, 2/15) in the 21st annual Rube Goldberg Machine Contest.

The countdown is on for the Purdue “Mission to Mars” team as it prepares for its new mission: defending the university’s national title on Saturday, April 6, in the 14th annual Theta Tau Fraternity’s Rube Goldberg Machine Contest. Shawn S. Jordan, a senior majoring in computer engineering from Fort Wayne, Indiana, said he and his Purdue Society of Professional Engineers’ teammates drew inspiration from trips to science museums and watching the Learning Channel to come up with their theme. Their “Mission to Mars” machine hoisted the U.S. flag over a simulated mini-Martian landscape to the strains of “Thus Spake Zarathustra” and Lenny Kravitz’s rocker “Fly Away” to win the local competition at Purdue on Saturday, February 9.