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Rocket Blasts Off During 2017 Student Launch Challenge

Launch of student built rocket into blue sky
Nearly 50 student teams from middle and high schools, colleges and universities in 22 states demonstrated advanced rocketry and engineering skills in NASA's 2017 Student Launch challenge. Teams spent eight months building and testing rockets designed to fly to an altitude of one mile, deploy an automated parachute system, and safely land for reuse.

Nearly 50 student teams from middle and high schools, colleges and universities in 22 states demonstrated advanced rocketry and engineering skills in NASA’s 2017 Student Launch challenge, held from April 5-8 at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama, near the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Teams spent eight months building and testing rockets designed to fly to an altitude of one mile, deploy an automated parachute system, and safely land for reuse, each carrying a scientific payload for data collection during flight.

The River City Rocketry team from the University of Louisville, in Louisville, Kentucky, captured top honors. They’ve proven hard work and determination pays off, literally, taking home a cash prize of $5,000, offered by Orbital ATK of Promontory, Utah, longtime corporate sponsor of the challenge.

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC