The University of Virginia’s rocketry team earned a first-place finish for the best livestream of its launch during an international competition held last month in Texas.
The team traveled to Midland, Texas, hoping to defend its 2025 national championship in an altitude competition in which rockets using readily available commercial engines fly as close as possible to the 10,000-foot mark. Instead, the team placed ninth in that category out of 80 teams. But judges deemed the rocket’s onboard video of its flight the best in the contest.
The team, based in UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, also earned second place for its technical report, a 100-page volume detailing how the students designed, built and tested the rocket.
UVA Today chronicled the team’s final practice launch in April.
“I’m really pleased and proud of the team’s work this year,” Mike McPherson, an adjunct professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the team’s faculty adviser, said.
