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NASA names UAH the winner of its 2023 Student Rocket Launch Competition

Alabama Public Radio | By APR Staff

Published June 15, 2023 at 3:22 PM CDT

Student teams ready their rockets for launch during NASA’s Student Launch competition near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, April 15.

NASA has announced the University of Alabama in Huntsville is the overall winner of the agency’s 2023 Student Launch challenge.

More than 800 students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched high-powered, amateur rockets on April 15, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as part of the culminating event for the agency’s annual Student Launch challenge.

Students from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, carry their rocket to the launch pad during NASA’s 2023 Student Launch competition near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, April 15.

For nine months, teams of middle school, high school and college students were tasked to design, build and launch a rocket and scientific payload to an altitude between 4,000 and 6,000 feet. Teams also had to make a successful landing and execute a scientific or engineering payload mission.

Students from New York University, in Brooklyn, showcase their rocket during NASA’s annual Rocket Fair April 13, near NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Kevin McGhaw is the director of NASA's Office of STEM Engagement for the Southeast region. He said the competition gives young thinkers the ability to develop new skills and channel their curiosity.

“Our students share unique perspectives and design innovative technologies to address real-world difficulties of space exploration,” McGhaw said in a press release. “As NASA celebrates its 23rd year of Student Launch, we are proud to help develop the next generation of skilled engineers and explorers capable of supporting NASA’s Artemis missions.”

Student Launch is one of NASA’s nine Artemis Student Challenges activities, which combine student ingenuity with NASA’s work returning to the moon. NASA in an online statement said the challenges help prepare it for human explorations of Mars.

"Students are required to meet complex requirements and high expectations,” said Fred Kepner, an education program specialist and project coordinator for Student Launch at Marshall, in a press release. "Student Launch is an authentic learning experience, one offering students experience working through the same processes NASA and our partners use for safety and quality control of space missions.”

Marshall Space Flight Center hosts Student Launch with management support provided by NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement - Southeast Region. Funding is provided in part by NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate and its Next Gen STEM project. Additional support is provided by Northrup Grumman, National Space Club Huntsville, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, National Association of Rocketry, Relativity Space, Bastion Technologies and Siemens Digital Industries Software.

Replays of the launch event and award ceremony are available on NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center YouTube page and the Student Launch Facebook page.

For more information about the Student Launch challenge, visit NASA's Student Launch website.