Student Rocket Team Breaks World Record at 63,497 Feet

A group of college students just launched a rocket they built themselves to the edge of space, breaking a world record in the process.

The University of Waterloo Rocketry Team watched their creation, Polaris, climb to 63,497 feet at the 2026 Launch Canada Challenge in Timmins, Ontario this week. That's nearly 12 miles straight up, shattering the previous amateur liquid rocket record of 56,590 feet.

"The moments before launch were the most stressful of my life," says Niva Patel, a second-year Mechanical Engineering student. "But witnessing Polaris soar into the air, hearing the callout confirming we broke the world record, and watching the parachutes deploy with the entire team cheering was unforgettable."

The 17-foot rocket weighing 300 pounds fully fueled represents years of trial and error. In 2024, the team made history as the first Canadian students to successfully launch a liquid bi-propellant rocket. The following year, their Aurora rocket reached 38,000 feet but was lost during descent, taking most of its precious flight data with it.

This time, the team over-engineered everything. They boosted the engine thrust for better stability and reinforced the recovery system to handle ten times the expected forces. Their caution paid off when Polaris descended perfectly under two parachutes and landed safely, a first for the team.

Liquid bi-propellant rockets are notoriously difficult to build compared to simpler solid fuel designs. But they're the aerospace industry standard, the same technology SpaceX and NASA use. For these students, the challenge is the point.

The Ripple Effect

The team's success is launching careers as high as their rockets. Co-lead Luca Scavone heads to a SpaceX internship this fall. Patel starts at the Canadian Space Agency. Recent graduates now work at SpaceX, the Canada Rocket Company, and RocketLab.

About 100 students from engineering, math, arts, and science work on the team, building technical skills that transform their classroom learning. Patel says working through real rocket design suddenly made her calculus and thermodynamics courses click in ways lectures never could.

The team culture runs deep, with alumni staying connected through an active network that provides technical advice, funding, and job opportunities. Combined with support from the university's machine shop and private donors, the students have resources that turn ambitious ideas into reality.

Their next rocket is already in the works. As Patel puts it: "This is a really hard engineering challenge. My favourite part is working through it all together as a team and making an impossible challenge possible."