NASA Student Launch Team at Virginia Tech

Current Virginia Tech student aerospace team based in the Aerospace Engineering Design Lab. The NASA Student Launch Team designs, builds, tests, flies, and recovers a high-powered rocket each competition cycle. Its 2026 SANDMAN vehicle is a reusable dual-deploy launch vehicle with a soil-sampling payload for planetary-surface simulation; the team completed a successful NASA Student Launch competition flight and safe recovery despite difficult parachute conditions. This record covers direct rocket, payload, flight-test, recovery, and aerospace-systems work only.