United Launch Alliance (ULA) and Ball Aerospace once again collaborated on a hands-on science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education program with a rocket launch over southeastern Colorado.
The 10th anniversary launch marked the high point of an experience designed to simulate a real-life launch campaign and inspire students from kindergarten to graduate school to pursue careers in STEM.

On July 14, ULA’s Future Heavy Super Sport (SS) rocket launched 33 payloads (onboard objects, experiments or instruments that may deploy from the rocket) over Lake Meredith, Colorado.

Working on their own time, ULA interns designed, built and launched the Future Heavy SS rocket with the guidance of mentors. Ball Aerospace mentors volunteered their time to create and test their payloads. Altogether, more than 30 interns and 12 mentors from ULA and 34 interns and 23 mentors from Ball made the 2018 event possible.

“I’ve been building rockets since I was a kid, and it was incredibly influential to my choice to go into aerospace as a career,” said Tory Bruno, ULA CEO and president. “This partnership with ULA and Ball lets students at all levels a chance to see what it’s like to design, build, test and learn from that process – with the added motivation that their work launches on a rocket.”

Three of the largest payloads were built by Ball Aerospace interns as part of the Ball Intern Remote Sensing Team (BIRST) program. Additional payloads were built by K-12 students from California, Colorado and New Mexico.

“It has been a pleasure collaborating with ULA on the student rocket launch for the past 10 years,” said Rob Strain, president, Ball Aerospace. “This exciting opportunity for our interns is a fun learning experience for them to understand what a career in aerospace is like by participating in a program from concept to launch.”

In honor of the 10th anniversary event, ULA introduced a twist – a payload competition for K-12 teams. Eleven teams competed to win up to $5,000 by designing a craft to return the payload to a pre-appointed location near the launch site. The payloads were too widely dispersed to measure distance accurately, so team scores on pre-launch design reviews determined the winners.

This year’s winners:

First place: $5,000: Boulder High School (Boulder, Colorado), for “The Glider Project”

Second place: $3,000: Monarch High School (Lafayette, Colorado), for “Droney McDroneface” Third place: $1,500: Green Mountain High School (Lakewood, Colorado), for “The Gassy Can”

Since the Student Rocket Launch’s first launch in 2008, nearly 800 interns from ULA and Ball have participated in the program under guidance from more than 200 mentors. In total, ULA’s interns have designed, built and launched 31 rockets carrying more than 200 payloads from five different locations.

United Launch Alliance

With more than a century of combined heritage, United Launch Alliance is the nation’s most experienced and reliable launch service provider. ULA has successfully delivered more than 125 satellites to orbit that provide critical capabilities for troops in the field, aid meteorologists in tracking severe weather, enable personal device-based GPS navigation and unlock the mysteries of our solar system.

For more information on ULA, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com. Join the conversation at www.facebook.com/ulalaunch, twitter.com/ulalaunch, and instagram.com/ulalaunch.

Ball Aerospace

Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most. We create innovative space solutions, enable more accurate weather forecasts, drive insightful observations of our planet, deliver actionable data and intelligence, and ensure those who defend our freedom go forward bravely and return home safely. Go Beyond with Ball.® For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.