Over 1,700 students from across the globe gather for Spaceport America Cup

UPHAM, New Mexico (KVIA) -- Students and instructors from more than 150 institutions around the world gathered at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico Wednesday for the Spaceport America Cup competition.

The event is described by the spaceport as being "the world's largest intercollegiate rocket engineering conference and competition."

The countries competing in Wednesday's event include Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Egypt, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Nepal, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

The opening day events took place at the Las Cruces Convention Center, while the competition events start Wednesday, June 21st at Spaceport America and continue until Saturday, June 24th.

The closing ceremony will take place at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces on Saturday, June 24th from 6 to 8:30 p.m.