Northwest Nazarene University engineering students are reaching new heights—literally. As part of NASA’s RockSat-X program, a team of NNU students recently launched their original experiment aboard a sounding rocket from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, joining an elite group of university teams from across the nation.
The NNU payload featured an ejector and robotic arm designed to track and capture objects in space. The experiment, developed over months of design, testing and assembly, provided students with the rare opportunity to apply classroom learning to a real-world aerospace challenge in partnership with NASA engineers.
“Opportunities like this are transformational for our students,” said Dan Lawrence, Professor of Physics and Engineering and ABET Program Director. “They’re not just studying engineering—they’re practicing it at the highest level. From concept to launch, our students worked through the same rigorous process that professional aerospace engineers use, and they did it with excellence.”
Through RockSat-X, students were involved in every stage of the mission: designing the experiment, preparing it for spaceflight, integrating it into the rocket and analyzing post-flight data. The launch reached an altitude of approximately 90 miles, providing valuable microgravity time for testing the payload.
“This is exactly the kind of experience that prepares our graduates to innovate in their careers from day one,” Lawrence added. “It’s also a reminder that big ideas can come from a small university in Idaho—and make an impact on a national stage.”
The RockSat-X program is a collaboration between NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility and universities across the nation, designed to give students a comprehensive, hands-on spaceflight experience.
