Biology faculty works with students to launch experiment aboard NASA rocket
Two Marshall University undergraduate students are preparing to take their research beyond Earth’s atmosphere as part of a NASA-supported suborbital mission.
Macy Smith and Joshua Hardesty, both biomedical engineering students, will launch a student-designed experiment through NASA’s RockSat program at the Wallops Flight Facility. Working with biology faculty member Dr. Alicia Purcell, the team will study how suborbital spaceflight affects the viability of soil bacteria.
The experiment will fly aboard a Terrier-Improved Malemute sounding rocket, providing a short-duration micro-gravity environment that allows students to collect data on how spaceflight conditions influence microbial survival.
The project is part of the West Virginia Space Flight Design Challenge and is supported by the West Virginia Space Grant Consortium, giving students hands-on experience in spaceflight research and collaboration with NASA partners.
NASA Sounding Rocket to Launch Student Experiments
