The Stargazing Club, Drew’s premier student-led astronomical studies group, has long held what many thought was a far-fetched dream for a college-aged group of astronomy enthusiasts: to build their own rocket and finally see the stars without Earth’s pesky atmosphere getting in the way.
“I like being able to breathe without a tank and all, don’t get me wrong, but imagine being able to see space the way it’s really meant to be seen!” said club president Lyra Kepler (‘25).
The rocket-building project itself was an enormous undertaking, and involved great collaboration from the engineering, computer science and physics departments.
“We’re all so grateful that the other students and professors were willing to help us reach our goal,” said Kepler. “We truly wouldn’t have been able to do this without them.”
This trip to space has been an ongoing project of the Stargazing Club for four years, and finally came to fruition when the rocket, shuttle and launchpad were raised up to the roof of the Hall of Sciences on Friday, March 29. The Stargazing Club held a ceremony to celebrate this momentous occasion four years in the making, during which several project heads, including Kepler and student engineer Aurora Herschel (‘24), gave heartwarming speeches.
“This project began when I was a freshman here as almost nothing more than a far-fetched dream none of us ever thought we’d even come close to accomplishing,” said Herschel. “We were still on Zoom at the time, and collaboration––especially across departments and on such a large scale––was difficult at best. But we pulled through. This project has taken so many late nights, thousands of hours of work, and hundreds of obstacles to overcome, but it has always been a labor of immense love for all of us involved––students, club alumni, and professors. And we couldn’t be more proud to be able to finally taste the fruits of our labor.”
Following the celebration of the rocket’s completion, the club members, alumni and faculty advisors boarded the rocket, while other collaborating students and professors operated mission control from the converted Observatory space. Nearly the whole Drew community––as well as members of the local Madison community and several live news reporters––bid the shuttle farewell as it took off from the Hall of Sciences roof and into the atmosphere.
The school remains in communication with the students and professors aboard the shuttle, and they have all expressed their complete elation with the results of their project and their ongoing astronomy and photography studies up in space. Though it remains unclear when, if ever, they plan to come back down.
Astrea Halley is a junior majoring in astrophysics and minoring in extraterrestrial studies.
