First Student Rocket to reach Space (339,800 ft, Mach 5.1) | Traveler IV Launch

On April 21, 2019, we, the USC Rocket Propulsion Lab, launched our latest space-shot rocket, Traveler IV, out of Spaceport America. Traveler IV reached an apogee of 339,800 ft with a confidence of 90% of having crossed the internationally-recognized border between Earth’s atmosphere and space known as the Kármán line. By flying higher than the Kármán line, Traveler IV has broken the world record for the highest altitude ever reached by a vehicle entirely designed and built by a collegiate rocketry team. USCRPL thanks the alumni, faculty, department staff, parents, the university, and all others who have supported the lab’s fourteen-year-long dream.
Even greater things lie ahead.
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About us:
USCRPL is the world’s premier undergraduate research group for experimental rocket technologies. Founded in the 2004-2005 school year with the mission of putting a scratch-built rocket into space, USCRPL has spent the last 14 years becoming a world leader in the design, manufacturing, and testing of small, low-budget, high-performance rockets. RPL’s members are all undergraduates, but alumni work across the space industry at organizations such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, and NASA, as well as RPL alumnus-founded startups like Relativity Space, Ursa Major Technologies, and 121C.

[ianwhittinghill]

Congratulations, USC RPL! This is a hard-fought victory. The tenacity of the team that carried you through so many iterations is truly inspiring. Well done. Flight on Trojans!

[nklein]

Well done, now get it to orbit next semester.

[srfh]

If the world was filled with young people like this I would never fear for our future. Congratulations. Truly awe-inspiring. There are countries out there who have never launched
anything into space.

[heyitsclayyy]

When you realize this is basically what you do in ksp. I love this.

[jaridwilliams]

its like a tiny NASA extreme organization determination and creative solutions to each iterations problems coming from these students, its inspiring

[dianne]

What an achievement! I grew up in Melbourne, Florida during the 1950's and 60's. Seeing your launch here gave me chills and put tears in my eyes! What a thrill this is for all of you and for those like me who have always felt this quest is a part of us!

[standard-carrier-wo-chan]

It's crazy how not 80 years ago, the first rocket to reach space was made by top scientists working to make the furthest flying weapon as technology of the time would allow. Today, technology have advanced so far that a team of students is able to achieve the same thing.

[ericeastham]

From the Utah State University Rocket Team, congrulations. This is a fantastic achievement, and one that I hope is the first of many.

[JudahRichardson]

Congrats! I can only imagine how excited you must be to see something you created soar into space like that.

[leokimvideo]

Girl gets hugged then runs, oh well hug a guy instead. To the moon next

[EndTimeDreams]

You had one job, clean the camera lens before launch lol.

[XLibelle]

Very, very impressive!! I’m a Professor, an old one, and I teared up at, “the drogue have fired, ” as I was totally on-board. Congratulations! Well done!

[fj]

brought tears to my eyes team..."the final frontier"....good on yah!

[luckyyvan]

Wow! I feel so proud of you. May you keep exceling

[Myrddnn]

That thing needs to go into the National Air and Space Museum! Awesome work guys!

[azlanfoodscapes]

Well done! Interesting for you to note that the average age for Apollo 11 program staffers was only 27, not much older than you all...

[berfranper]

This is amazing, we usually see Nasa, SpaceX and Blue Origin put satellites in space, but they have an enormous budget and top tier engineers, this was achieved by a small team of students working with their bare hands. Good job.

[srihari]

What a phenomenal achievement USC RPL! Kudos guys. Laid the foundation for several teams y'all.

[timw]

I have more respect for this team than I ever had for any sports team!

[Allan_aka_RocKITEman]

@USC RPL >>> It looked like the leading edges of the fins on the rocket had delaminated slightly - I presume from the mach 5+ airflow during ascent.

Would laminating something like _thin_ stainless steel strips onto the L.E.'S of the fins have helped that?