NASA rocket carries UH Community College students’ experiment into space

VIDEO NEWS RELEASE

Photo Credit: NASA/Danielle Johnson

Ryan Vanairsdale

Teal Hoffman

Windward CC student Ryan Vanairsdale at Windward CC

Link to video and sound (details below): https://spaces.hightail.com/receive/UJW0Nx0CMH

WHAT: Launch of a Terrier-improved Malemute NASA sounding rocket—carrying a scientific experiment designed and built by UH Community College students—into space.

WHERE: NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia

WHEN: 12:00 a.m. HST, August 12, 2025

WHO: The Project Imua Mission 14 team comprises students and staff from UH Community Colleges. 

• Windward CC students designed the deployment system and power distribution; conducted data analysis.
• The Honolulu CC team designed video capture circuits and managed data handling.

WHY: Project Imua (which means to move forward in ʻōlelo Hawaiʻi) provides students with real-world, project-based learning opportunities, including experimenting with high-power rocketry, and designing and fabricating small payloads for space flight.

The goal of this project was to test the performance and viability of a sublimation-fueled motor in space conditions, expanding understanding of alternative propulsion systems.

HOW: Project Imua’s experiment was one of eight developed by college and university teams across the nation that were flown through the RockSat-X program, which gives students at post-secondary institutions the experience of building experiments for space flight.

OTHER FACTS:

• After flying to around 100 miles altitude, the payload carrying the experiments descended by parachute, landing in the Atlantic Ocean off the Virginia coast.  After the rocket was recovered from the ocean, students received their experiments and any stored data.
• Mission 14 was the fifth time that a UH Project Imua payload was launched into space. The first Project Imua payload was launched from Wallops in 2015.

VIDEO: TRT (1 minute, 39 seconds)

B-ROLL:  

0:00-0:29 - students’ onsite video of launch

0:29-0:41 - Launch (NASA YouTube)

0:41-0:55 - Rocket retrieval

0:55-1:27 - Working on payload at NASA Wallops

1:27-1:39 - Stills Project Imua team working on project at Windward CC

SOUND:

Ryan Vanairsdale, Project Imua, Windward CC student (reacting to launch) (6 seconds)

“That was really cool.  I canʻt think of anything else to say—it’s just really cool.”

Teal Hoffman, Project Imua, Honolulu CC student (reacting to launch) (5 seconds)

“Whatever just happened, I did not expect, and we’re just hoping that our experiment is working.”

Note:  For photo of launch with students watching: Photo Credit: NASA/Danielle Johnson