HARRISONBURG VA (Rocktown Now) — NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has announced James Madison University as the winner of the agency’s 2025 Student Launch challenge. 

Every year, a payload challenge is issued to various university teams. This year’s task resembled the agency’s Artemis missions, meaning NASA sends astronauts to explore the Moon for economic benefit, scientific discovery, and to build the overall foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. 

JMU Engineering’s Project VULCAN I, placed first overall among all of the universities in competition. Thus, making the team national champions among 70 elite schools across the country. 

This event marked the end of the students’ nine-month challenge of designing, building and launching more than 50 rockets with the goal of achieving altitudes between 4,000 and 6,000 feet including a successful landing and payload mission. 

To learn more about the competition read here.