Stony Brook Rocketry Team Launches Higher Than Ever
The Stony Brook School’s rocketry team, BrookX, soared to new heights as they took part in the NASA Student Launch Initiative (SLI) in Huntsville, Alabama, and competed in the American Rocketry Challenge (ARC) in Plains, Virginia. Their achievements marked a milestone in the school’s STEM program and placed them among the top young aerospace talent in the country. The team was founded in September 2023 by Dr. Chin-Tang Liu, a Math and STEM teacher at The Stony Brook School. The team motto, “Assertiveness, Resilience, and Collaboration,” becomes the guiding principle throughout the journey.
NASA Student Launch Initiative: A Historic First
Last year’s BrookX team was the only pre-college team in the Northeast to receive an invitation to the annual Student Launch Initiative, hosted by NASA and the National Association of Rocketry. This invitation-only exhibition challenges participants to design, build, and launch a high-powered rocket, carrying a functional payload.
In order to be invited to the event, the BrookX team advanced through multiple rounds of technical review, from proposal to preliminary and critical design reviews, before undergoing a flight readiness review by the NASA Expert Panel for the final launch at Huntsville.
BrookX’s custom-built rocket features a sophisticated lander system that deploys two parachutes at approximately 6,000 feet (15-inch wide) and 600 feet (72-inch wide), respectively, during descent. The lander was equipped with a distance sensor that activated at 10 feet above the ground, ensuring a controlled touchdown.
At the exhibition, Brookers were joined by college teams from such prestigious institutions as MIT, the Naval Academy, Northwestern, Northeastern,West Point, Vanderbilt, Carnegie-Mellon University, Georgia Tech, Washington U. at St. Louis, NYU, and others. The Stony Brook team was able to showcase their rocket as one of only 12 pre-college teams that advanced to the final launch, as well as conduct experimental research on rocketry.
America Rocketry Challenge: Top 6 National Finish
BrookX also just competed in the 2025 America Rocketry Challenge (ARC), the largest student rocketry contest in the World, with over 1,000 teams from high and middle schools across the nation. Teams are judged based on their ability to hit specific altitude and flight time goals, all while keeping a payload - two eggs - intact through flight and landing.
To qualify, BrookX successfully completed a qualification flight observed by a representative from the National Association of Rocketry. Once at the national competition, they had two flight attempts per goal: one targeting 765 feet and the other 815 feet in altitude.
In the 815-foot challenge, the team reached 827 feet, securing 8th place in the first round. In the 765-foot challenge, they hit 736 feet, which moved them into 6th place out of over 1,000 competitors. Both flights met the tight flight duration requirements. Their overall performance earned a $4,000 prize. They were one of the only teams in America with back-to-back Top 10 finishes.
The following students competed for the BrookX team:
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Zihao ‘Roger’ Zhou ’26 - Chief Technical Officer for BrookX programs
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Hanyu ‘David’ Zhang ’25 - Captain
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Duowen ‘Vincent’ Zhao ’27 - Co-Captain
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Sebastian Guadalupe-Peña ’25
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James Wigington ’26
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Chanwoo ‘Joseph’ Jung ’26
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Hanlin ‘Eileen’ Yao ’27
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Xinyuan ‘Yolanda’ Xie ’28
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Jeremy Wang ’30
Following the competition, team captain Hanyu Zhang ‘25 (admitted to Columbia University) reflected by saying, “There is a world beyond classwork and exams, and rocketry gives us a chance to work on something else while learning about the aerospace industry.”
A second BrookX team, comprised of freshmen and sophomore rookies in the program, also competed in the competition, finishing #32 out of over 1,000 teams. The team consisted of:
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Yeri Kim ’27 - Captain
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Terrence Wang ’28 - Co-Captain
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Ryson Lee ’27
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Konstin Lee ’27
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Sijia ‘Lisa’ Li ’28
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Zhanhong ‘Jeff’ Liu ’28
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Bokai ‘Kevin’ Wu ’28
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Mahummad Rasif ’28
With this accomplishment, The Stony Brook School is one of only five schools to have multiple teams finish in the final round of 42 competitors.
Chief Technical Director, Zihao (Roger) Zhou ’26, reflected on the team's accomplishment, “The American Rocketry Challenge and NASA Student Launch Initiative showed me the design cycle that actual engineers engage in the real world. It’s not just about the final product; it is a 10-month journey from a few sketches on paper to a rocket soaring a mile high.”
Furthermore, Dr. Liu reflected the BrookX Rocketry journey as one of “Resilience and Perseverance”, with the teams traveling more than 10,000 miles with the school bus to launch rockets. The assertiveness and collaboration displayed by the students are above the chart. Their faith in believing “Everything is Possible” makes a miracle become a reality.