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Student gives thumbs up while helping teammate carry rocket.
Student Launch rocket takes off.
Student launch participants and guests launching their team rockets at Bragg's farm in Huntsville, AL.

NASA Student Launch

It actually IS rocket science! Student Launch is a 9-month long challenge that tasks student teams from across the U.S. to design, build, test, and launch a high-powered rocket carrying a scientific or engineering payload. It is a hands-on, research-based, engineering activity and culminates each year with a final launch in Huntsville, Alabama home of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The activity offers multiple challenges reaching a broad audience colleges and universities as well as middle and high school aged students across the nation.

About Student Launch about NASA Student Launch

culinating Event Dates

April 10-12, 2024

culinating event location

Huntsville, AL

ELIGIBILITY

Open to U.S. Students

grade levels

Grades 6-12, College and University

Eligibility and Proposals

Student Launch is open to all U.S. colleges and universities, and qualifying grades 6-12 teams.

2024 Student Launch Proposal Period is CLOSED

Learn More
Student Launch participant shakes a pom pom and smiles while helping to carry her team's rocket.
Featured Story

NASA Announces Teams for 2024 Student Launch Challenge

NASA has announced the 70 teams representing 24 states and Puerto Rico selected to compete in the 2024 Student Launch…

Read the Story

NASA High-Powered Rocketry Video Series

Group of students carry their rocket at the 2023 Student Launch challenge.

Counterpart Document

This document is an informational tool only and does not serve as an instructional guide to building a rocket. Please consult an experienced rocketeer for instructional guidance. Have fun, be safe, and welcome to the world of high-power rockets!

Student with eligibility gives thumbs up while helping teammate carry rocket.

Video Series Playlist

Here you will find a brief video series that will introduce the many elements of high-power rocketry, from materials to launch safety.

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Student Launch Image Gallery

Check out photos of projects from 2023 launch.

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Group of students carry their rocket at the 2023 Student Rocket Launch Week challenge.
Official NASA MSFC photos of the 2023 Student Rocket Launch week

Media

10 Images
Stephanie Yazzie, Northern Arizona University student and NAU Space Jacks team member, poses with her team’s rocket in this photo from the 2019 NASA First Nations Launch (FNL) competition.
Student Launch participant carries rocket with smile on his face.
Student Launch team celebrates their rocket launching.
NASA Announces Launch Options for 2022 Student Launch Competition
Student Launch participants retrieve their rocket from a field after launch.
Students from Cornell University of Ithaca, in New York, display their rocket for an on-air interview with NASA TV.
The University of Notre Dame won the 2017 Student Launch Altitude Award in the college division with an altitude of 5,286 feet.
The Mississippi State University in Starkville team poses with their rocket
Three students inspect rocket payload
Vanderbilt Takes Top Prize in NASA Student Launch Challenge

Contact Us

Please direct questions and inquiries regarding registration, competition operations or logistics to the challenge organizers listed below.

Fred Kepner
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Office of STEM Engagement
Mail Code CS60
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Email: Fred.Kepner@nasa.gov

Members of the news media interested in attending the NASA Student Launch activities or interviewing participants before or during the event should contact Chris Blair in the Marshall Center’s Public & Employee Communications Office.

Chris Blair
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Public Affairs Office
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Phone: 256-544-0034
Email: christopher.e.blair@nasa.gov

Join Artemis!

Authentic, hands-on learning experiences give students in middle school all the way through graduate school a chance to flex their design and engineering skills as they build and launch high-powered rockets, design robots capable of mining the Moon’s surface or traversing difficult lunar terrain, create human-powered rovers, and test technologies and tools to assist future astronauts working on the Moon.

Learn More about Join Artemis!
2 people on a human-powered rover
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