Ex-Student Competitor’s Journey to NASA Engineer
Sometimes, it only takes a few years and meeting the right people to completely change someone’s career path. Meredith Patterson is a great example. She works as an aerospace engineer at NASA‘s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Even though she didn’t know much about rockets at first, now she’s part of the team working to send people back to the Moon.
She says a big part of her success is thanks to NASA’s Student Launch program. It not only helped her discover her love for aerospace engineering but also gave her the skills and experience she needed for her job today.
Every year, Student Launch invites student teams from all over the U.S. to spend nine months designing, building, and testing a powerful rocket with a scientific or engineering payload. The program ends with a final launch in Huntsville. This year, it’s happening from April 10 to 14, with the final launch on April 13 at Bragg Farms in Toney, Alabama.
Patterson first heard about Student Launch when she was a junior in high school, during a tour of North Carolina State University. She visited the rocketry lab there and knew right away that she wanted to be part of it. She wanted to help lead the team and make sure they did well in Student Launch, no matter how many years it took.
Her Journery
For five years, she went to North Carolina State University. Every year, she took part in the Student Launch competition. In her last year, she led the team, and they came fourth. Through Student Launch, she got certifications from the Tripoli Rocketry Association, which helped her meet mentors from Tripoli and the National Rocketry Association. These mentors gave her hands-on experience and technical knowledge that she thinks are really important in the aerospace industry.
Patterson said her leadership, system engineering, and technical writing skills improved a lot because of Student Launch. Having mentors during the competition allowed her to ask questions and learn more about the technical side of things. She believes she uses more information from Student Launch in her daily work than from most of her college classes.
When she was 16, attending an engineering camp sparked her interest in spaceflight and rockets. But it was through Student Launch that she got to really explore and deepen her love for it.
“It’s amazing to think that less than 10 years ago, I had never even built a rocket,” Patterson said. “And now, I can build Level II-sized rockets by myself, and I’m working on the biggest solid rocket boosters in the world. Just in the past year, I’ve gone from using the L-class motor for Student Launch to making 11-inch motors and now watching the making of the SLS (Space Launch System) boosters.”
Student Launch
Student Launch is a component of NASA’s Artemis Student Challenges. In the 2024 Student Launch Challenge, seventy teams from 24 states and Puerto Rico were chosen to participate.
The Student Launch challenge is held at Marshall, with oversight from NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement – Southeast Region. Financial support comes from NASA’s Space Operations Mission Directorate and NASA’s Next Gen STEM project.
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