university student launch initiative

Welcome to the Harding University "Flying Bison" USLI Team Website! We are a group of students and faculty committed to the design, construction, and launch of a reusable high-powered rocket with a scientific payload, with a target altitude of one mile. We also have the sustained goal to reach out to our community, in order to excite them about rocketry and NASA itself. The 2008-2009 season is the third consecutive year of our participation.

For this season, our rocket will be a 4" diameter hybrid, with a projected length of 9 feet. We continue to design our rockets around the Contrail Rockets 54mm Hybrid Motor system, and project a K-level motor for this season. Our payload will be a custom-built spectrometer, and we will perform in situ spectroscopy of the actual rocket plume, in cooperation with Dr. Ed Wilson's hybrid rocket research interests.

Please browse our pictures, video, and news articles documenting our team's current and past achievements. For a closer look at the team, see our documents submitted to NASA, including our meeting minutes, and our team biographies. Links to NASA websites and the websites of other USLI teams are availible, and of course, don't forget to check back often for recent news!

The University Student Launch Initiative is an educational program administered by the Office of Education at NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.