VSU team takes off with NASA challenge
Free Press staff report | 11/2/2023, 6 p.m.
A team of students at Virginia State University has been invited for the first time to participate in the NASA Student Launch Challenge.
The Trojan Takeoff Team, made up of 31 VSU students from a range of majors, will compete against 48 other teams from colleges across the nation in designing, building and launching a high-powered rocket to an altitude of 4,000 to 5,000 feet. VSU announced the team’s invitation Monday.
“I’m tremendously proud of everything we’ve accomplished so far,” Team Founder and VSU senior MaKhaila Bentil said in a statement. “The progress we’ve made has been outstanding, and our goal is to represent VSU to the best of our ability next April, and hopefully inspire more Trojans to test the boundaries in the world of engineering. The sky really is the limit.”
As part of its preparation, the Trojan Takeoff Team has designed a 3D model of a rocket they plan to fully build in the months before the competition.
They then will receive rocket launch training from a member of the National Association of Rocketry at VSU’s Randolph Farm, Saturday, Nov. 4 at 11 a.m. The competition is currently scheduled in April in Huntsville, Ala
