Pushing the boundaries of innovation, one launch at a time.
Liberty Rocketry competes annually in ESRA's International Rocket Engineering Competition. Every June, more than 150 student-led teams from around the world meet in Midland, Texas to design, manufacture, and launch the most stable, most accurate, and most efficient high-powered rocket system possible.
Liberty Rocketry is a student-led engineering competition team of over 50 undergraduates from 7 different majors. Through determination and relentless innovation, our engineers push the limits of collegiate rocketry design far beyond its traditional norms, developing Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills to impact the world for the glory of God.
Reach the team directly and we'll get back to you.
Four vehicles, four competitions, one trajectory. Every season builds on the data from the last.
Liberty Rocketry's first entry. Genesis placed 39th out of 158 teams and impressed judges and industry leaders as the highest-placing first-year team, giving the program exceptional experience and a foundation for its legacy of engineering excellence.
Waymaker took the competition by storm, finishing 9th overall, 5th in division, and 4th in the country — ahead of Stanford, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Purdue, Princeton, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Rice, and Embry-Riddle. In only its second year, the team had become one of the most elite collegiate rocketry programs in the world.
Trinity placed 9th in technical performance and launch results, holding consistent through a rapidly evolving competition. A late technical report dropped the official standing to 57th internationally — a result that drove sweeping structural and management reform to eliminate the administrative failures holding the team back from a top-ten finish.
Omega returned to the international stage stronger than ever. Building on a second test launch with under one percent simulation error, the team brought an exceptionally tuned vehicle to Midland and earned selection for the prestigious Sunrise Salvo. Omega became only the second rocket in the entire competition to achieve a perfect recovery score, touching down 200 feet from the pad while flying a custom active laser engraver payload. Despite clean telemetry showing no in-flight anomalies, apogee came in 800 feet under target for environmental reasons that remain unidentified — and Omega still finished 18th of 141 international entries and 12th in the highly competitive 10K COTS division.
Building on the operational excellence and technical milestones of past seasons, our next project is our most ambitious engineering endeavor yet — designed to showcase advanced manufacturing, active drag control, and complex payload integration for the 2027 season.
The students and faculty pushing the boundaries of collegiate rocketry.
Directing technical engineering across all vehicle subsystems.
Oversees technical design, calculations, and subsystem integration across the entire vehicle architecture.
Driving operational efficiency and centralizing team infrastructure.
Serves as the central Point of Information (POI) and parallel executive leader alongside the Chief Engineer to direct operations, logistics, and compliance for the team.
Precision fabrication and facility safety.
Manages machine shop operations, fabrication standards, and build quality control.
Optimizing aerodynamic structures and fluid dynamics.
Directs airframe optimization, structural integrity analysis, and aerodynamic efficiency testing.
Powering vehicle performance.
Oversees solid motor selection, casing integration, and motor performance validation.
Safe descent and vehicle preservation.
Directs parachute deployment, kinetic recovery systems, and landing survivability.
Integrating scientific payloads.
Leads experimental payload design, structural integration, and competition challenge compliance.
Precision apogee targeting.
Directs active drag control systems and mechanical airbrake actuation for exact apogee control.
Telecommunications & RF precision.
Co-leads electronic hardware design, RF communication, and live telemetry data acquisition.
Flight logic and computer stability.
Co-leads flight computer implementation, power distribution, and redundant fail-safe code.
The team is divided into eight technical groups. Each owns its hardware end to end — design, validation, manufacture, and integration.
Designs and optimizes the rocket's aerostructures for stability and efficiency, validates and tests airframe materials against competition requirements, and works with manufacturing to realize those designs.
Designs the vehicle's electronic systems and flight computers, validates components for reliability under flight conditions, and coordinates with every other subsystem for clean integration.
Develops the experimental payload, focusing on validation and testing to prove functionality, then integrates it with the overall vehicle.
Selects and validates the motor for optimal performance, documents decisions for rule compliance, and collaborates on motor integration and manufacture.
Designs the systems that bring the vehicle back safely, validates and tests every component for reliability, and manufactures the recovery hardware.
Manages production processes and lab safety, develops component fabrication plans, organizes assembly, and handles facility access and safety compliance.
Oversees logistics, budgets, and deadlines. Compiles reports, coordinates travel and events, and tracks progress across the program.
Handles media and public relations, creates content showcasing team activities, and organizes community outreach to promote the mission.
Honoring the members whose work set the standard the current team builds on.
Led the largest team Liberty Rocketry has fielded and drove Trinity to under 3% apogee accuracy at competition alongside the highest technical score in program history.
Just keep swimming.
Spearheaded the technical design and flight calculations for Project Omega, leading the team to a top-20 international placement, 12th in the 10K COTS division, and a perfect recovery score at IREC 2026.
Stay curious.
Oversaw comprehensive operational restructuring, budgeting, and administrative overhaul — solving legacy submission failures and delivering a technical report score of 187.33 out of 200.
Innovation in every circuit.
Co-led Avionics in developing redundant flight computers, custom PCB designs, and live ground station telemetry, contributing to a top-20 international finish and special judge recognition at IREC 2026.
Our near-completely student-led and student-started team works together to honor God in engineering by pursuing excellence in every aspect of our rocketry projects. From design and build to launch, we collaborate across disciplines, building the hands-on experience and skill that prepares us for our careers.
As a Christian university, we seek to do God's will and fulfill the Great Commission by spreading the gospel through our work in rocketry. We spend time with the Lord at the beginning of every event and meeting, keeping Christ at the center of it all. In just three years, we've grown from a small group to one of the world's top aerospace competition teams.
Aerodynamics, avionics, payload, propulsion, recovery, manufacturing, project management, and media collaborate to design, build, and launch each year's rocket — providing hands-on experience and skill training that carries directly into our members' careers.
Every donation goes directly toward making Liberty Rocketry the best collegiate rocketry team in the world. Sponsors gain direct access to dedicated engineering students, visibility at international competitions, and custom placement on our high-powered competition airframe. All financial donations are tax deductible.
| Benefit | Bronze $500+ | Silver $1,000+ | Gold $2,500+ | Platinum $5,000+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Logo on team website | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Access to team resume book | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Logo on team apparel | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Logo on launch airframe | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | |
| Social media recognition | ✓ | ✓ | ||
| Large logo, prime placement on merchandise | ✓ | |||
| Prime logo placement on launch airframe | ✓ |
Full tier details and contact information. Questions go to libertyrocketry@gmail.com or oshobayo@liberty.edu.
Rep the team and support the journey to the International Rocket Engineering Competition. Every purchase funds research, manufacturing, and launch operations.
The storefront is currently limited to team officers.
Sponsorships, membership, media requests, or collaboration — send us a note and we'll respond.
Liberty University
Lynchburg, Virginia
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