On a humid cloudy day an hour outside the nation’s capital in The Plains, Virginia, teams of middle school students reached for the stars by competing in the American Rocketry Challenge, the world’s largest student rocket building competition. 

The contest is sponsored by the Defense Department, NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration and top U.S. defense contractors.

A total of 922 teams from all over the country applied, but only the top 100 teams were chosen to travel to Virginia to compete. The objective for each team was to build a rocket and launch it as high as possible while carrying an egg and landing without the egg breaking.

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One team from Francis Hammond Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia, had already overcome the odds before stepping onto the field to launch their rocket. The group of students was not born in the United States. Their families fled their homes in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Turkey and Ukraine. Their teachers recruited them to join the school’s rocketry club in part to help them learn English and adjust to life in America.

Artem, 12, came to the U.S. from Ukraine with his mother after Russia invaded in February 2024. Artem was scared by the snipers and tanks outside their apartment building. Now, while his countrymen use artillery and drones to fight the Russian military, Artem is designing rockets. Artem loves using his creativity and has found a home in his school’s art department. He helped design the team’s rocket.  

“When we needed to put the motor in, the motor didn’t fit, so we needed to make the space bigger. I was doing all that,” Artem told Fox News.

Farhan, 13, fled Afghanistan with his father, mother, grandfather and sister three years ago during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal when the Taliban took control. Now, he is focused on studying physics and wants to be a pilot.

“I’m really happy that we made it all the way to here. I’m proud of us and my team. We accomplished a lot,” Farhan said in an interview.

What he did not talk about was his journey to get to the United States.

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Farhan’s father worked with the U.S. government for years before the country fell to the Taliban and asked not to be named to protect his family still in Afghanistan. Fearing for his family’s safety, he scrambled to get Farhan’s family to the airport. 

It involved a two-day journey on foot in the scorching heat and being repeatedly beaten by the Taliban. When they reached Abbey Gate, a U.S. Marine on the perimeter watching the crowd recognized Farhan’s father, having worked with him before. The Marine ushered his family into the airport. They were greeted warmly by a young female Marine who just days later was killed in the Abbey Gate bombing along with 12 U.S. service members.

Farhan’s family made it to safety on a U.S. military plane and eventually were brought to the United States. Now, Farhan says, when he grows up, he wants to be a pilot.

Farhan and his family on board a U.S. military plane leaving Kabul (Fox was asked to blur the faces of Farhan’s family to protect their identity).  (Farhan’s family )

“Our country had been taken over, and it wasn’t safe anymore. So we had to move,” Farhan said.

Yosra is another student on the team whose family also fled Afghanistan in August 2021. She wants to be a lawyer and work for the U.S. government when she grows up. But, right now, she loves building rockets, something the Taliban would never have allowed if she had stayed in Afghanistan.

“It feels like I’m free. Like I could do, like I could get anywhere I want. … I wouldn’t be able to dare even speak English if I was there. I mean, not even go to school. So, like, it feels nice. I feel proud,” Yosra said.

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On Aug. 27, Babur left Afghanistan with his family when he was just 10 years old. His father worked as an interpreter for the U.S. military, which is how the family was able to come to the United States. Babur loves studying science and space. He said he wants to work in the aerospace industry when he grows up.

“I’m thankful because I’m independent, and I have a lot of opportunities to do here. Programs like right now, rocketry club,” Babur said.

On hand to observe the students’ successful launch was NASA astronaut Woody Hoburg, who represented his Pittsburgh high school at the same competition in 2003. Hoburg has spent 186 days in space and just returned last September from piloting the SpaceX mission to the International Space Station.

Babur and his father are pictured outside Francis Hammond Middle School. (Babur’s family)

“I’m really passionate about students being able to get their hands dirty and build things, experiment, maybe fail once in a while, find out that flights don’t go perfectly,” Hoburg told Fox News.

After launching 847 feet in the air, the team’s rocket landed in a bush on descent. Anxious to see whether their egg had survived, the students sprinted to the bush in an effort to get it out. After arguing among themselves, they decided to wait impatiently as a competition official came to remove the rocket and its parachute from the bush.

The egg survived, and the students came in 50th place.

Even though they didn’t win, Farhan is proud of what his team accomplished. He said he wants to continue to make his family proud.

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“We’re going to make our country and them proud,” Farhan said. “We’re going to pay back everything they did for us.”

The Oscar-winning film “Forrest Gump” was released in theaters on this day in history, July 6, 1994.

An adaptation of the 1986 novel of the same name by author Winston Groom, the movie was a smash success and earned $678.2 million worldwide. 

It was the second-highest grossing film in 1994, coming in only behind “The Lion King,” says the website Box Office Mojo.

Starring Tom Hanks as the titular character, “Forrest Gump” tells of the life and times of a man “a bit on the slow side” — a man who also leads an extraordinary life amid some of history’s biggest events. 

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The film is narrated by Gump, who sits on a bench waiting for a bus. He begins to tell anyone who’s sitting next to him the story of his life, beginning with his childhood in the 1950s.

Raised in Alabama by a single mother, played by Sally Field, Gump becomes close to Jenny (played by Robin Wright), the only person who will let him sit down on the school bus. 

Teased and harassed one day at school, Gump discovers that he can run quite fast. 

His athletic skill eventually leads to scouting by the University of Alabama to play football — which sets the rest of the story in motion. 

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After college, Gump joins the Army and is sent to Vietnam to fight in the Vietnam War. 

In the Army, he befriends “Bubba,” and the two aspire to open a shrimp boating business once they return to the United States after the war. 

Hanks was awarded Best Actor, the first time someone had won back-to-back Best Actor awards since the 1930s. 

Bubba, sadly, does not make it home from Vietnam.

In the film, Gump saves the life of his commanding officer, Lieutenant Dan (played by Gary Sinise), as well as others. Gump is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism — and becomes a ping-pong star as he recovers from his war injuries.

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At an anti-war rally, Gump runs into the now-adult Jenny and Lt. Dan — and discovers that Jenny has fallen into the hippie lifestyle of the ’70s. 

Tom Hanks, Sally Field and director Robert Zemeckis attend the “Forrest Gump” Hollywood Premiere on June 23, 1994, at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, California.  (Getty Images)

Reunited with Lt. Dan, Gump fulfills his and Bubba’s dream of buying a shrimping boat, creating the “Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.” 

Both Lt. Dan and Gump become extremely wealthy after Lt. Dan invests the profits “in some fruit company” — later revealed to be Apple.  

Gump proposes marriage to Jenny, which she declines. 

In response to her rejection of him (and her disappearance, once again, from his life), Gump begins to run across the United States.

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Returning finally to Alabama after a few years, Gump discovers he is the father of Jenny’s child, Forrest Jr. — and that she is dying of an unnamed illness implied to be AIDS. 

Forrest and Jenny finally marry before her death. 

Actor Tom Hanks portrayed the titular character “Forrest Gump” in the 1994 film. He won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.  (Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images)

Reviews were mixed when the film was released.

Some critics called it an “American staple” — while others called the narrative “programmed” and the film “hogwash.”

Wrote Malcolm Johnson of The Hartford Courant, “Hanks’ power as an actor makes us believe in Forrest. He also draws us into Forrest’s mind and morality system. And he sets out a singular film persona who will be watched and loved as long as people embrace movies.”

Jay Carr of The Boston Globe said, “‘Forrest Gump,’ the new Tom Hanks movie directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a one-of-a-kind treat.”

Robin Wright as Jenny and Tom Hanks as Forrest in the 1994 film “Forrest Gump,” directed by Robert Zemeckis.  (Sunset Boulevard/Getty Images)

The film received the Academy Award for Best Picture at the 67th Academy Awards in 1995, notes the Academy’s website. 

Hanks was awarded Best Actor, the first time someone had won back-to-back Best Actor awards since the 1930s, said the Academy. (In 1994, Hanks won for his role in “Philadelphia.”)

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In winning the Best Actor Oscar for “Forrest Gump,” Hanks beat out fellow nominees Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman, John Travolta and Nigel Hawthorne that year.

“Forrest Gump” also won Oscars for Best Directing, Film Editing, Visual Effects, and Writing–Screenplay based on material previously produced or published. 

A 17-year-old boy who had been missing from Flint, Michigan, since May has been located after he randomly appeared on a live-streamed video Wednesday.

Troy Coleman, who was last seen leaving his house in Flint and possibly boarding a public bus in late May, spooked popular Twitch streamers FaZe Lacy and Clix when he came up to the streamers while they were recording a live video at an outdoor table at a Miami restaurant.

“Bro, are you good?” a man in the video can be heard asking Coleman, who wanders around the outdoor tables talking to people throughout the course of FaZe Lacy’s live-streamed video.

Coleman was wearing a neon-green bathing suit and did not appear to have any other belongings with him besides a sweatshirt.

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Dozens of people watching the live video left real-time comments when Coleman entered the scene, calling him a “crackhead” and a drunk. 

Afterward, FaZe Lacy shared an email on X from Trent Coleman, who identified himself as Coleman’s brother.

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“Hello my name is Trent [C]oleman and my missing little brother from [M]ichigan was on Clix and [L]acy’s stream in Miami, he was wearing green shorts and they were making fun of him, he is not on drugs he is scizhophrenic and 17 years old if someone can contact me about this [I] would be so thankful he has been missing for 3 months and this case was put on homicide in [M]icigan,” the email states.

FaZe Lacy noted in a post on X that he “wasn’t sure” whether he should make the email public but was “hoping somehow this helps [Coleman] be found for his family.”

The streamer said in another post that Coleman had mentioned the hotel where he was staying on the live recording.

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“We got into contact with his brother and told him what hotel he said he was staying at on stream. He has been found and placed in a holding cell in Miami until he gets transferred back to Michigan with his family,” FaZe Lacy wrotebo on X. “The power of the internet is insane thank you guys.”

On Thursday, the Flint Township Police Department announced that Coleman had been “found safe in Miami,” adding that Michigan police were working with Miami authorities “to arrange his safe return to Michigan to be with his family.”