Student Launch Initiative
[Students Grades 7-12]
[Available: Nationally]
NASA Student Launch Initiative, or SLI, challenges middle and high school students to design, build and launch a reusable rocket with a scientific or engineering payload to one mile above ground level, or AGL. The project engages students in scientific research and real-world engineering processes with NASA engineers.
Teams can qualify to participate in the SLI by placing in the top ranks at the Rockets for Schools competition (Level 2) held in Wisconsin or at the Team America Rocketry Challenge, or TARC, held in Virginia. Upon qualification, teams are required to send one faculty/mentor representative to the NASA Advanced Rocketry Workshop, or ARW.
Students propose to participate in SLI during the fall. Once selected, teams design their rocket and payload throughout the academic year. SLI requires a NASA review of the teams' preliminary and critical designs. The project also requires flight readiness and safety reviews before the rockets and payloads are approved for launch. Teams complete a Post-Launch Assessment Review to include conclusions from their science or engineering experiment and the overall flight performance. The Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review and Flight Readiness Review are conducted by a panel of scientists and engineers from NASA, NASA contactors and external partners.
NASA Student Launch Projects are sponsored by ATK Aerospace Systems. The annual launch event is hosted at Bragg Farms in Toney, Ala., and launch services are provided by the National Association of Rocketry.
› View NASA Student Launch Projects Overview Video
› View NASA Student Launch Projects Music Video
› 2011-2012 NASA Student Launch Initiative Handbook
2012 Launch Date: Saturday April 21, 2012 (April 22 Raindate)
Bragg Farms, Toney, AL
2011-2012 NASA Student Launch Initiative Teams
AIAA Orange County Section - Orange, CA
Falls Church High School - Falls Church, VA
Harmony Magnet Academy - Strathmore, CA
Hart County 4-H - Munfordville, KY
Ingraham High School - Seattle, WA
Katalyst for Katastrophy - Spring Grove, IL
Lake Zurich High School - Lake Zurich, IL
Madison West High School Project Diffusion - Madison, WI
Madison West High School Project Vibrations - Madison, WI
Plantation High School Team 2 - Plantation, FL
Plantation High School Team 1 - Plantation, FL
Presidio High School Team Pride - Presidio, TX
Presidio High School Team Spirit - Presidio, TX
St. Thomas High School - Houston, TX
Thomas Jefferson High School - Alexandria, VA
2010-2011 SLI Awards
- Best-Looking Rocket Peer Award: Plantation High School -- Returning Team (Plantation, Fla.)
- Best Team Spirit Peer Award: Hart County 4-H -- Team Noble (Munfordville, Ky.)
› View 2010-2011 Student Launch Project Launch Results
For archived footage of live coverage of every launch, please click on the link below.
› http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-msfc →
Features:
› Don't Let Inexperience Stop You From Flying
› A Higher Calling
› From a Different View
› Having a Blast
› Once Upon a Time, There Was a Rocket
› Science in the Sky
› The Next 'Next Generation'
› Touch the Clouds
Rocketry Links
NASA University Student Launch Initiative
› View site
Team America Rocketry Challenge
› View site →
Rockets for Schools
› View site →
Rockets Guide
› View site
Adventures in Rocket Science Guide
› View site
National Association of Rocketry
› View site →
2005 - 2006 SLI Results
› View pdf file (50KB) →
2006 - 2007 SLI Results
› View pdf file (69KB) →
NASA Contacts
Julie Clift, SLI/USLI Projects Lead
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Academic Affairs Office
Mail Code HS30
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Phone: 256-961-1334
Fax: 256-544-2511
Email:
julie.d.clift@nasa.gov
Eddie Jeffries/Jacobs ESTS Group, SLI/USLI Technical Coordinator
NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center
Academic Affairs Office
Mail Code HS30
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Phone: 256-544-0399
Fax: 256-544-2511
Email:
edward.m.jeffries@nasa.gov
Additional Contact Information
› View Pre-college contact information
NASA Student Opportunities Podcast
Listen to archived interviews with students who participated in the Student Launch Initiative. (Note: Content was accurate at the time of publication.)
› John Leichty
