About this competition
NASA Student Launch is the most serious pre-college rocketry program in the country. Teams spend roughly nine months designing a high-power rocket carrying a working science payload, targeting an altitude of about one mile, and then fly it at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
What makes Student Launch different from a school science project is the review process. Teams pass through the same milestone reviews NASA uses internally — Preliminary Design Review, Critical Design Review, Flight Readiness Review — presenting to actual NASA engineers who will fail a design that is not safe. Documentation runs to hundreds of pages.
This is a heavy lift. Teams need a mentor certified for high-power rocketry, access to a launch field, and real money for motors, airframes, and travel to Huntsville. Most successful high-school teams come out of an established rocketry club or a school with a prior year of experience. It is not a first rocketry project — the American Rocketry Challenge is.
Season & deadlines
Proposals are due in September for the following April launch; the season runs about nine months.
Season window: August through April.
Cost
$2,000–$10,000 — No entry fee, but airframes, motors, and payload electronics run into the thousands, plus travel to Huntsville. Many teams fundraise or win a NASA grant.
Prizes & outcomes
Project Review, Vehicle Design, Payload Design, and Altitude awards; Rookie Award for first-year teams
Heading for NASA Student Launch?
Aerospace & Rocketry Engineering is forming the next pilot cohort. Join the interest list — no commitment, no payment, we'll reach out personally.