Concordia University students launch rocket from northern Quebec
They launched a rocket from a remote site in northern Quebec early Friday morning, , the culmination of a project seven years in the making.
'We're trying to prove that students can also do hard things,' said Simon Randy, president of student group Space Concordia. 'It's not just companies or large government organizations. It's really people who have the drive and the grit to work on these large projects.'
Starsailor, a 13-metre liquid-fuel rocket, took off just after 5:30 a.m., though the launch didn't go exactly as planned. Randy said the rocket split into pieces shortly after taking off and did not reach space. The goal had been to launch the rocket into space and have it fall back to Earth with a parachute, where the students could recover it.
Story continues below advertisement
Still, Randy called the project a success. 'We cleared the launch tower. We had stable flight, our telemetry worked normally,' he said. 'And so for us, we've learned a huge amount with this mission.'
2:18
Montreal pizza ready for blast off with new space partnership
Randy said the mission was the first attempted space launch from Canadian soil in more than 25 years, and the Starsailor is the largest student-built rocket ever to fly.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
He said the experience was an opportunity to 'show the world that space can be exciting still, even in a country where we're maybe not focused on it.'
He believes Canada should be more interested in having its own rocket launch capability.
'In a world where there may be more and more tensions between countries, you would probably want to be able to be independent as much as possible in as large a variety of technology as possible,' he said.
Story continues below advertisement
1:36
European and Canadian space agencies team up as tension heats up south of the border
The project was born in 2018 as part of a U.S.-based competition that offered US$1 million for a student-led university team that launched a liquid-fuel rocket into space. The challenge was derailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Space Concordia persevered.
Randy, who chose to attend Concordia three years ago specifically to join the rocketry club, said he's spent more time on the Starsailor than he has in school. 'It's like your entire existence is devoted to this project,' he said.
The team is now hoping to retrieve some of the debris from the rocket before heading back to Montreal.
The launch took place about 250 kilometres north of the Cree community of Mistissini.
2:58
Remembering Marc Garneau: Canada's first astronaut, a trailblazer and national hero
Randy said team members did outreach with local youth to get them excited about space. Some community members also visited the launch site, he said.
Story continues below advertisement
The university says more than 700 Concordia students have contributed to the Starsailor program since it began seven years ago.
Now that it's all over, Randy said, the students are a bit dazed, and are trying to work out what they're going to do next.
'It's like every day you come … the rocket is there. It's kind of like a person in the room. There's always someone working on it,' he said. 'And now it's gone.'
2:03
McMaster University celebrates successful launch of first space mission
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
5 hours ago
- CTV News
Reaching for the stars: Montreal students' space mission
Concordia students launched a rocket from Northern Quebec, aiming to hit an exploration milestone in Canadian space. Genevieve Beauchemin reports. A team of Concordia University students gathered at a remote base camp on Cree territory in northern Quebec to launch the largest, most powerful student-built rocket ever made. The event captured on a livestream, may not have gone off quite as planned, still it marked an engineering breakthrough after years of effort. Cheers greeted the moment just after the countdown when a ball of white light sped up to the sky. 'This is insane,' said one student staring up at the rocket. The Space Concordia team's goal was to breach the edge of space at an altitude of 100 kilometres. Their liquid fuel rocket, Starsailor, blasted off at 5:34 am. They now say the rocket did not cross the Kármán line — the internationally recognized boundary of space. 'What we can tell you, is that it looks like the rocket burned out earlier and separated earlier than planned,' said Space Concordia's Hannah Halcro on the livestream. The liftoff was seven years in the making and sparked by an intercollegiate space race. In 2018, teams of universities and colleges entered a contest to launch a liquid fuel rocket into space. That was cancelled due to the pandemic, but the Concordia team forged ahead, determined to make history on its own terms. Over the years, more than 700 students contributed to the project, investing thousands of hours into design, testing, and development. Their rocket represented not just academic ambition, but a dream shared across generations of students. They built a space program and worked in collaboration with the Cree community in the Mistassini region to prepare for launch. Transport Canada cleared the mission for takeoff and the local airspace was closed, but two previous attempts were scrubbed due to poor weather conditions. This time, it was all systems go. But this is rocket science, and so it is hard. Some students say they feared the rocket may not launch, that it could blow up the launch tower, and so while not reaching space is not ideal, they say, it is far from a failure. 'The sky is not the limit obviously,' Space Concordia President Simon Randy told CTV News at the end of a long day. 'We have proven that we have a seat at the table of launch into space.' The team is now analyzing flight data and will look at debris to determine Starsailor's exact trajectory. Still the future engineers' hopes for the launch went far beyond expectations. 'See you in space next time,' Halcro signed off.
Global News
6 hours ago
- Global News
Concordia University students launch rocket from northern Quebec
Students at Concordia University in Montreal have pulled off what they're calling the first attempted space launch in Canada this century. They launched a rocket from a remote site in northern Quebec early Friday morning, , the culmination of a project seven years in the making. 'We're trying to prove that students can also do hard things,' said Simon Randy, president of student group Space Concordia. 'It's not just companies or large government organizations. It's really people who have the drive and the grit to work on these large projects.' Starsailor, a 13-metre liquid-fuel rocket, took off just after 5:30 a.m., though the launch didn't go exactly as planned. Randy said the rocket split into pieces shortly after taking off and did not reach space. The goal had been to launch the rocket into space and have it fall back to Earth with a parachute, where the students could recover it. Story continues below advertisement Still, Randy called the project a success. 'We cleared the launch tower. We had stable flight, our telemetry worked normally,' he said. 'And so for us, we've learned a huge amount with this mission.' 2:18 Montreal pizza ready for blast off with new space partnership Randy said the mission was the first attempted space launch from Canadian soil in more than 25 years, and the Starsailor is the largest student-built rocket ever to fly. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy He said the experience was an opportunity to 'show the world that space can be exciting still, even in a country where we're maybe not focused on it.' He believes Canada should be more interested in having its own rocket launch capability. 'In a world where there may be more and more tensions between countries, you would probably want to be able to be independent as much as possible in as large a variety of technology as possible,' he said. Story continues below advertisement 1:36 European and Canadian space agencies team up as tension heats up south of the border The project was born in 2018 as part of a U.S.-based competition that offered US$1 million for a student-led university team that launched a liquid-fuel rocket into space. The challenge was derailed during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Space Concordia persevered. Randy, who chose to attend Concordia three years ago specifically to join the rocketry club, said he's spent more time on the Starsailor than he has in school. 'It's like your entire existence is devoted to this project,' he said. The team is now hoping to retrieve some of the debris from the rocket before heading back to Montreal. The launch took place about 250 kilometres north of the Cree community of Mistissini. 2:58 Remembering Marc Garneau: Canada's first astronaut, a trailblazer and national hero Randy said team members did outreach with local youth to get them excited about space. Some community members also visited the launch site, he said. Story continues below advertisement The university says more than 700 Concordia students have contributed to the Starsailor program since it began seven years ago. Now that it's all over, Randy said, the students are a bit dazed, and are trying to work out what they're going to do next. 'It's like every day you come … the rocket is there. It's kind of like a person in the room. There's always someone working on it,' he said. 'And now it's gone.' 2:03 McMaster University celebrates successful launch of first space mission This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
CBC
19 hours ago
- CBC
Concordia students hold history-making rocket launch on Cree territory
A collaboration between Concordia University students in Montreal and a Cree community in northern Quebec resulted in a first-of-its-size rocket launch by a student team, even though it fell short of space.
