Concordia University Students Launch a Mission from Northern Quebec

Concordia students in Montreal filmed what they call the first attempt to launch space in Canada of this century.

They launched a rocket from a remote area in the north Quebec early on Friday morning, the culmination of the project for seven years in creation.

“We are trying to prove that students can also do hard things,” said Simon Randy, President of the Space Concordia Student Group. “It’s not just a company or large government organization. These are really people who have a traffic and grain work on these big projects.”

Staylor, a 13-meter rocket with liquid fuel, only flew after 5:30 in the morning, although the launch did not pass exactly as planned. Randy said that the rocket divorced the pieces shortly after take -off and did not reach room. The purpose was to launch a rocket into space and return it to the ground with a parachute where students could restore it.

And all, Randy called the project successful. “We cleared the starting tower. We had a stable flight, our telemetry worked normally,” he said. “And so for us, we learned a huge amount with this mission.”

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Randy stated that the mission was the first attempt of the Canadian soil space for over 25 years, and the largest rocket, built by students who had ever flew.

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He said that this experience is an opportunity to “show the world that space can still be exciting, even in a country where we may not concentrate on it.”

He believes that Canada should be more interested in the launch of the rocket.

“In a world where there may be more and more tensions between countries, you probably would like to be able to be as independent as possible as much as possible different technologies as possible,” he said.

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The project was born in 2018 as part of a competition based in the United States, which offered $ 1 million for a university team under the guidance of students who launched a rocket with liquid fuel into space. The task was thwarted during the pandemic of every-19, but the space Concordia persistently.

Randy, who decided to attend Concordia three years ago, specifically to join the missile club, said he spent more time at the “Stillora” than at school. “It’s like all your existence is dedicated to this project,” he said.

Now the team hopes to get some of the garbage from the rocket before you go back to Montreal.

The launch took place approximately 250 kilometers north of the Mississini community.

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Randy said the team members passed from local youth to worry about space. Some members of the community also visited the launch site, he said.

The university says that more than 700 students of Concordia have contributed to the Starsailor program since the beginning of seven years ago.

Now that everything is over, said Randy, students are a little dizzy, and try to figure out what they will do next.

“It’s like every day you come … a rocket is. It’s like a person in a room. Always someone works on it,” he said. “And now he is gone.”

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This Canadian press report was first published on August 15, 2025.

& Copy 2025 Canadian press