NASA Student Launch

Student Launch Team, Troop 17 (SLT17) is one of only 20 middle and high school teams in the US invited to participate in NASA’s Student Launch Initiative, a premier college-level STEM challenge conducted by NASA’s Marshall Spaceflight Center. The team works alongside NASA engineers using NASA’s rigorous process for launch vehicle design and flight operations to develop and fly a high-powered rocket carrying a science payload of the team’s design to an altitude of one mile above ground level. This hands-on experience will give team members unparalleled experience with real-world engineering development and program management processes they can use as they prepare for college and for their post-collegiate careers.

The program includes a mandatory STEM education element, which requires team members to educate at least 200 youth about the program, their rocket development, their scientific experiment, and the science of rocketry. SLT17 is focusing on Charlottesville-Albemarle area community organizations, schools, and Scouting units.  Through this program, SLT17 members learn not how to do real-world engineering, but also how to communicate, educate, and present their results before an audience.