Montville, NJ, Oct. 04, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Troop 74 Rocketeers have been selected for NASA Student Launch for the 2026–2027 season. The student team from BSA Montville Troop 74 will design, build and test a reusable high-power rocket and payload, working through NASA engineering reviews ahead of a final launch scheduled for April 2027 in Huntsville, Alabama.
Selected for NASA Student Launch
This season’s team includes Etash Arni, Shalin Chatterjee, Thomas Jenkins, Mya McConoughey and Tyler Zhang. They will participate in the Student Launch Initiative division for middle and high school students, an educational program that challenges teams to follow engineering practices modeled on NASA’s own development process.
The selection builds on a milestone year for the Rocketeers. In 2025, the troop’s three-person team won the American Rocketry Challenge national championship, then represented the United States and won the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show. Jenkins returns from that championship team to join four teammates for the NASA project.
“Winning in Paris was an incredible experience, but this is a whole new challenge,” said Jenkins. “We have to think beyond whether the rocket will fly. We have to show how every part will work and back up our decisions with testing.”
Run by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, Student Launch gives students responsibility for a project from initial proposal through flight and analysis. Teams are selected through a competitive proposal review process and must complete a series of design and readiness reviews. Students present their work directly to NASA review panels, explaining their engineering choices, test results and plans for a safe flight.
For the Rocketeers, the move from model rocketry to high-power rocketry brings a larger rocket and a more demanding engineering project. Their rocket must reach an altitude between 3,500 and 5,500 feet, carry a NASA-approved scientific or engineering payload, and return safely for reuse. Alongside construction, the students will manage flight simulations, technical reports, budgets and schedules.
“The exciting part is that we’re responsible for the whole project,” said McConoughey. “There will be things that don’t work the first time, and we’ll have to figure out why together. Having NASA engineers review our work makes it feel very real.”
The season will move from design reviews this fall to subscale and full-scale test flights over the winter and spring. The team is scheduled to travel to Huntsville for Launch Week in April, where its rocket will undergo final inspections before flight. After launch, the students will analyze the rocket’s performance and payload results.
The Rocketeers will also undertake community STEM engagement as part of the program, connecting their engineering work with opportunities to introduce other students to rocketry.
About Troop 74 Rocketeers
The Troop 74 Rocketeers are a student rocketry team from BSA Montville Troop 74 in Montville, New Jersey. The troop’s team won the 2025 American Rocketry Challenge and International Rocketry Challenge and is participating in NASA Student Launch for the 2026–2027 season.
Press Inquiries
Thomas Jenkins
bsatroop74rocketeers [at] gmail.com
Montville, NJ 07045
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomas-jenkins-98409a370
