Cambridge Students Aim for Europe's First Rocket to Space

Students at Cambridge University just watched astronauts return from the furthest human journey into space, and now they're more determined than ever to make their own piece of history.

The Cambridge University Space Flight Society, a passionate group of 100 students, has set an ambitious goal. They want to become the first team in Europe to launch a rocket past the Kármán line, the official boundary of space sitting 100km above Earth.

Co-president Elisabeth Rakozy, 22, said NASA's Artemis II mission "heralded a new era" in space exploration. For these students, it was the first manned moon mission in their lifetimes, with the last one happening in 1972.

The society has been working toward this dream since 2006, building multiple rockets and engines along the way. Their creation, Griffin I, could potentially reach 150km if launched successfully, well past their target altitude.

The team has already tested rockets in both Cambridge and California's Mojave Desert, with support from MIT. But the pandemic hit pause on their progress, slowing the mission significantly.

Now momentum is building again. Co-president Ben Sutcliffe, 22, says they've made major progress on logistics, insurance, and licensing in recent months. A launch in Scotland is already in the planning stages.

Why This Inspires

These students aren't just building rockets. They're proving that groundbreaking space exploration doesn't require billion-dollar budgets or massive government agencies.

Sutcliffe describes watching test flights as nerve-wracking but amazing. "It's sort of like seeing your baby being launched off into the sky and praying that all of your engineering design was done properly," he said.

Rakozy will be watching from the sidelines when the team finally reaches space. She's accepted a job with Relativity Space, a US aerospace company, starting after graduation. Her journey from student rocket builder to professional space engineer shows exactly where passion and persistence can lead.

The Artemis II crew just traveled 252,756 miles from Earth and returned safely, rekindling humanity's relationship with deep space exploration. Now a new generation is ready to write their own chapter in that story, one student-built rocket at a time.