![Student gives thumbs up while helping teammate carry rocket.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dsc-2305.jpg?w=1024)
![Student Launch rocket takes off.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/21870598318_57b1dea855_k.jpg?w=684)
![Student launch participants and guests launching their team rockets at Bragg's farm in Huntsville, AL.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/sl-2016.jpg?w=1024)
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.
Culminating Event Dates
April 30 – May 4, 2025
Culminating event location
Huntsville, AL
ELIGIBILITY
Open to U.S. Students
grade levels
Grades 6-12, College and University
Handbook and Timeline
2024-2025 Requirements and Timeline Will be Added Upon Availability
– University Student Launch Initiative (USLI) Division – college and university competitive division
– Student Launch Initiative (SLI) Division – grades 6-12 formal and informal institution division
![A small crowd watches as a rocket launches.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ceb-3011.jpg?w=1024)
Eligibility and Proposals
Student Launch is open to all U.S. colleges and universities, and qualifying grades 6-12 teams.
2025 proposals dates will be added upon availability.
Learn More![Student Launch participant shakes a pom pom and smiles while helping to carry her team's rocket.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/ceb-6679.jpg?w=1024)
![Student Launch teams watches their rocket take off.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/microsoftteams-image-4.png?w=1024)
Frequently Asked Questions
If there is a discrepancy between the SL Handbook and the FAQ, use the information in the latest FAQ list. It is the teams’ responsibility to check the FAQ periodically for updates.
View FAQs![The student team from Victory Christian Center School in Charlotte, North Carolina, pose with their rocket prior to launch.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/mic_0896.jpg?w=1024)
Advanced Rocketry Workshop
Each summer Student Launch offers an Advanced Rocketry Workshop (ARW) for advisors and mentors of our qualifying grades 6-12 teams.
Learn More![Students from the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus, carry their rocket and flag on a grassy field.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/sl24_media_pic_6.jpg?w=985)
Launch Week Event Details
Team & Mentor Arrival Day – Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Launch Day – Saturday, May 3, 2025
Back-Up Launch Day – Sunday, May 4, 2025
![Student teams ready their rockets for launch during NASAs Student Launch competition near NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, April 15.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/dsc_4255.jpg?w=985)
NASA Announces Winners of 2024 Student Launch Competition
Over 1,000 students from across the U.S. and Puerto Rico launched high-powered, amateur rockets on April 13, just north of…
Read the Story![](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/sl24.jpg?w=1024)
NASA High-Powered Rocketry Video Series
![Group of students carry their rocket at the 2023 Student Rocket Launch Week challenge.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/ceb-2982.jpg?w=1024)
Media
![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.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/dsc06042.jpg?w=300)
![Student Launch participant carries rocket with smile on his face.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/dsc-1290-2.jpg?w=300)
![Student Launch team celebrates their rocket launching.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/elg-6106.jpg?w=300)
![NASA Announces Launch Options for 2022 Student Launch Competition](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/student_launch_icymi_22-03-04.jpg?w=300)
![Student Launch participants retrieve their rocket from a field after launch.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/2022-nasa-student-launch-52136764199-o.jpg?w=1024)
![Students from Cornell University of Ithaca, in New York, display their rocket for an on-air interview with NASA TV.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cornell.jpg?w=300)
![The University of Notre Dame won the 2017 Student Launch Altitude Award in the college division with an altitude of 5,286 feet.](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/fd09729.jpg?w=300)
![The Mississippi State University in Starkville team poses with their rocket](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sl_spacecowboys.jpg?w=300)
![Three students inspect rocket payload](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/sl_santa_fe_college.jpg?w=300)
![Vanderbilt Takes Top Prize in NASA Student Launch Challenge](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/750317main_0FD9035_3000x2002_full.jpg?w=300)
Contact Us
Please direct questions and inquiries regarding registration, competition operations or logistics to the challenge organizers listed below.
John Eckhart
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Office of STEM Engagement
Mail Code CS60
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Email: john.r.eckhart@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 Taylor Goodwin in the Marshall Center’s Public & Employee Communications Office.
Taylor Goodwin
NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Public Affairs Office
Marshall Space Flight Center, AL 35812
Phone: 256-544-0034
Email: taylor.goodwin@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](https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/40912030465_c3cb2a6fc3_k.jpg?w=2048)