Connecting Students to the Future of Exploration As excitement for NASA’s Artemis II mission spread across the country, the UCCS AIAA student chapter turned the moment into more than a watch party - it became a live learning experience. Nearly 50 students, faculty, and community members gathered to witness humanity’s return to deep space for the first time in over 50 years. The event combined celebration and hands-on education, giving attendees a front-row seat to one of NASA

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs invites you to be part of history as we host an online watch party for NASA’s Artemis II mission, the first crewed journey around the Moon in over 50 years. We’ll be tuning in together through NASA’s official YouTube livestream at https://www.youtube.com/nasa . Before the big day, NASA must first complete a wet dress rehearsal, a full fueling and countdown test of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft. The team is targ

UCCS students continue to build momentum in space-based student research, with two ISS experiments selected for flight - one launching in 2026 and another scheduled for 2027. Together, these missions highlight UCCS’s growing role in interdisciplinary, hands-on space science spanning biology, chemistry, and aerospace engineering. UCCS Springs Discussing ISS Experiment for Flight on Mission 21 in May 2026 This year’s experiment, manifested for flight to the International Space

The University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) BatSat 2.0 experiment has been provisionally accepted for flight on the 2026 High Altitude Student Platform (HASP), marking an exciting milestone for the 7-person student-led research team. HASP provides a unique near-space research environment using a high-altitude balloon platform, allowing student teams to fly scientific payloads to altitudes exceeding 35 km, well above most of Earth’s atmosphere and into a radiation envir

In June 2025, a team UCCS engineering students achieved liftoff, not just for their experimental payload, but for a bold new idea in space sustainability: edible insects as future space food. The student team, Sound of Crickets , launched live Acheta domesticus  (house cricket) eggs aboard a NASA sounding rocket through NASA’s RockSat-C program. Their experiment investigated whether cricket eggs could survive the intense vibration, acceleration, temperature changes, and the f