What is Go For Launch!?
Go For Launch! is an exciting, multiday program that ignites students’ passion for space and STEM through hands-on teamwork, discussions led by experts, and solving real world challenges. This program is to build leadership, collaboration, and communication skills. Students are paired with astronauts and STEM professionals as they work in teams to design space experiments and they’re all competing to have their projects launched to space! Aeroloco won at the Go For Launch! Kuiper event last July and are now having their project flown to space!
Aeroloco - How’d they come to be?
While all Go For Launch! events start with the same introductions all of the teams form uniquely. The Aeroloco team’s beginning is quite a fun one. Let’s start with Ryan, he came to this event with a friend that he knew outside of Higher Orbits. Ryan then met Grayson who was a friend of Ryan’s friend. Unfortunately, the mutual friend that Ryan and Grayson both knew ended up leaving the event, but the two mutuals stuck together and became part of Aeroloco. Grayson’s connection to Asher was from outside Go For Launch!. Asher said, “One of my good friends [Grayson], we just decided to go to camp together. We needed to make groups so we kind of just group up together with a few people that were there”. Mutuals of mutuals, but then how did Shreshta come into the mix? Shreshta said, “I remember Grayson and Ryan and the other people to the right they had really interesting stuff about them, like interesting fun facts. So, for example, Grayson, had mentioned stuff about developing games and developing apps. That really interested me, so I just went up, talked to them and we just became a team from there”. Friend of friends but also the similar interests is what magnetized this group together.
Team’s Project and Collaboration Challenges
The Aeroloco collaboration dynamic was not set in stone from the beginning but rather developed through the different challenges that their team underwent. Challenges like the tower build and packing for mars really helped shape this team’s collaboration dynamic.
Brainstorming ideas for their project was a fundamental part of their success. Shreshta feltlike he was leading them in producing a coherent presentation along with Grayson. Ryan was seen as their main researcher and came up with the idea of doing something with yellow slime mold. What it came down to was making a group decision on which species of slime mold, how can they make it different, and how can they answer all the questions they need to include in their presentation. Where they exactly narrowed down their idea was mentioned by Shreshta, “Ryan mentioned yellow slime mold and how astronauts are already like tested their growth rates in a petri dish, right? And from that, we just felt like, apetri dish isn’t a 3D model it's a 2D model. So, what if we just extend it to 3D so we can see how it grows into the Y axis as well. That’s just how we came up with our idea.
”Like any big project this team was not immune to challenges or bumps in the road. Ryan and Shreshta had highlighted some moments that were pivotal for the Aeroloco team. Ryan mentioned making a decision about which slime mold to use, “There was one where there were two different species of yellow slime mold. And both of them had slightly different properties and slightly different applications. So when we originally looked at yellow slime mold we got results for both of them and eventually we had to filter to only using one of them. And the other one was keeping it from like growing or dying while it was waiting on the launch pad”. In order to overcome this challenge, the Aeroloco team did additional research but also consulted the resources they had at the event. Shreshta mentioned the team’s initiative to cover all their bases by reaching out for help. Shreshta stated, “I think it was probably the feedback we got from Ms. Michelle and the other judges there. We went up to them and asked questions about our presentation, if it was feasible, if it would work, and what they think we could improve on. I feel like the feedback that they gave is really what allowed us to improve our overall presentation. And get to that top three spot”. While Aeroloco had their minds working in tandem to address any flaws or problems with their project and presentation, they didn’t even have time to notice what the other teams were working on. Therefore, when everyone came together to give their presentation there was some doubt in the Aeroloco team about winning. This specific event was a guarantee for the winner overall to have their project flown to space. Three finalists were selected at the end of the event and were given an additional two weeks to create a synopsis on their project to present in front of a judge panel
Aeroloco’s First Win
Shreshta said, “I was really shocked, actually, because I wasn't expecting to win. There were a lot of good projects. I was fully expecting some of the other ones would have, you know, been in that position, instead of us, but I was also really happy and really excited because I would love to see my experiments flown to space I think that'd be a really cool experience.” The shock had set in for them! Ryan mentioned, “I felt excited! I definitely thought that one of the other teams was going to win it. Because they had something cool on non Newtonian fluids in space.” Asher also thought that a different project was going tow in over theirs. He said, “We didn’t think we had an amazing idea, at the time, but I felt like it was our presentation. I feel like we did pretty good jobs presenting it”. Their enjoyment was definitely skyrocketing but the job was not done. Aeroloco still had some work to do. Ryan stated that shortly after they were announced as one of the final three, they had shared discords to stay in touch. The team started working together on a shared document for their synopsis to hopefully secure the overall win!
Aeroloco’s Second Win
Now came the time for the overall winner to be announced. Instead of this team being in close quarters for the announcement they were separated around Virginia tunning into the Facebook live to hear what the ultimate decision was. Grayson had recalled that some messages were shared in their discord wishing each other luck prior to the announcement. Shreshta had learned that they won while in a store shopping for his older
brother to get anew pair of hiking boots. “I finally heard that we won, I was, like, really, really excited. And I
was jumping up and down and I have a feeling that a lot of people were staring at me and just wondering what is he doing. Right? It was really exciting! I was a super super excited, cause again I'd love to see my project flown space. So, it was just like a shocking experience overall,” Shreshta stated. Grayson had heard the announcement while being surrounded by family in a watch - party fashion, “So, we all sat down on the couch to watch
with my family. We were watching the Facebook and got a bit of cliff hanger because the live lagged out right before. Then we saw it! The first thing I did was go over to Asher's house to tell him we won. Because I guess he didn’t realize it, and I thought that was kind of funny”. Ryan said, “I was pretty excited at the time,” and his excitement was from all around the event. His mother recalls just how excited he was to design a mission patch
from the event. Ryan was over the moon ecstatic to have his team’s project flown to space!
Aeroloco’s Impact and Future
Winning at the Kuiper was monumental for the team’s academic lives, but also just gave these hard-working students something to look forward to in the coming year! Ryan who is going to be a senior in high school has his experience with Go For Launch! already tucked away as a part of his AP Capstone engineering class. The skills that Ryan learned from Go For Launch! will influence his project and team work environment in the most positive way! He also excited to be able to write about how Go for Launch! impacted him in his college essays. Grayson learned that he might be more of a writer than he gave himself credit for, “I found it a lot more enjoyable just within a couple of hours!”. Grayson mentioned, “Honestly, I’ve been more interested in space. I kind of just half followed it and it was only the second part of my interest area. But now it’s fully part of my interest area and I follow SpaceX and Reddit communities and all that.” Shreshta learned that graphic design might be a new forte of his and that, “biology research is pretty cool”. Shreshta believes that there is more impact behind slime mold research and could even be used to better transportation systems. Shreshta mentioned, “Go For Launch! really got me into space. It’s got me really invested into the logistics side of space”. Summer is always an exciting time of the year, but for Shreshta even more so now than ever. Shreshta highlighted, “So there's this one program called Virginia Space Coast Scholars, which is a space program where you apply. If you do good enough, you can go to Wallops Flight Facility. You can do some stuff there, but there different platforms for like rockets, hot air balloons, etc. So I learned about that from one of my friends and I applied. I got in, and I performed good enough and now I'm going to Wallops!”. How exciting! Asher said that Go For Launch! inspired him to be more involved in space and to keep track of things that are happening. Asher also felt like prior experience helped his researching skills for this event, “I used to be on a robotics team that always had this thing called an innovation project.... We had to do lots of research on how to grow coral. I think that helped a lot with our project”
Meet the Team
Grayson Talbot
Grayson is a rising freshman from Arlington, Virginia. He plans to attend an engineering school or the Airforce Academy and study Aerospace Engineering. If Grayson had the opportunity to visit any planet in our solar system, he would go to Mars. The reason behind the choice is due to Mars’ habitability and, “highest chance of survival”. If given the choice to name a rocket ship Grayson would name it Horizon. The Kuiper Go For Launch! was Grayson’s first Go For Launch! . One piece of advice that Grayson would give future or current students participating in Go For Launch! , “Try not to be over ambitious for your project. Try to pick something that actual solves a real-world problem.” Grayson has been down to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex before and has seen a launch! Grayson also emphasized when he is with family in North Carolina he can see rocket launches clearly (as long as they’re not at 2:30 a.m.)! Grayson’s favorite memory from his Go For Launch! journey, “I really like the first day where we come to meet our teams and all the fun introduction activities. For example, building the launch pads and making sure they’re built structurally sound. I also liked brainstorming with the idea itself too”.
Shreshta Parthaje
Shreshta is a rising junior from Chantilly, Virginia taking FIVEAP classes during his junior year! Shreshta is expecting to attend University of Virginia or Virginia Tech in efforts to stay a close drivable distance to home. Shreshta plans to major in Computer Science or Computer Engineering. If Shreshta had the opportunity to visit any planet in our solar system, he would go to Saturn. Shreshta said, “I think it would be cool to check out the rings and the Red Spot.” If given the choice to name a rocket ship Shreshta would name it The Hercules. The Kuiper Go For Launch! was Shreshta’s first Go For Launch! and he hopes to attend another one during the summer of 2026. One piece of advice that Shreshta would give future or current students participating in Go For Launch! : “My biggest piece of advice would be have fun with it, you know? Whether you win or not this is a fun experience and not common to have. It’s pretty unique. Learning as much as you can is probably the best way to go about it and winning should just be a side aspect, not the main aspect of participating in Go For Launch! ”. Shreshta has not seen a launch himself, but he is hopeful that one day he will be able to watch one. Shreshta’s favorite memory from his whole Go For Launch! journey was, “The presentations on the different astronauts. Such as Leland and his dogs, that’s really cute to me. Just learning about the different missions, that was really cool and those specific presentations are what me interested in space and to learn about it.”
Ryan C. Sullivan
Ryan is a rising senior from Arlington, Virginia. He hopes to attend Georgia Tech or North Carolina State and plans to major in Mechanical Engineering. If Ryan had the opportunity to visit any planet in our solar system, he would go to Jupiter. He said simply, “It’s our largest planet why not?”. If given the choice to name a rocket ship Ryan would probably name it something in Latin, it is hard for him to decide. The Kuiper Go For Launch! was Ryan’s first Go For Launch! . His father discovered the event through Arlington Now where he stumbled upon an announcement. Ryan’s parents thought that this event would be perfect for him given his interests in engineering and space. One piece of advice Ryan would give current or future students participating in Go For Launch! was “I would say that even if your project might seem like it’s already been done or that it might be a little silly that they definitely should pursue it because it could be something big”. Ryan has not been to see a launch before but looks forward to the day that he does eventually see one. Ryan’s favorite memory from his whole Go For Launch! journey was, “Designing the tower because we just go and see what other people are doing. We had a whole bunch of different materials, so we had to use different designs for each material. And we were wondering ‘Well how can we mesh these two materials together’”.
Asher Greene
Asher is a rising freshman from Arlington, Virginia. He plans to attend college and would like to major in Motorsports Engineering. If Asher had the opportunity to visit any planet in our solar system, like Ryan he would want to see the largest: Jupiter. Asher believed naming a rocket ship was too difficult to determine because of the endless possibilities. The Kuiper Go For Launch! was Asher’s first Go For Launch! . Asher and Grayson are friends outside of Higher Orbits and decided to attend together. One piece of advice Asher would give current or future students participating in Go For Launch! , “One of the things is don’t just stick with one idea you had. I had an idea that I felt like was the best idea in the world, nothing else would be better than it. Then we ended up winning with a different idea. So, don’t just stick with the same idea, to find other things that could be better”. Asher has not been to see a launch but is hoping to see the one that their project will be on. Asher’s favorite memory from his Go For Launch! journey was, “It was really fun trying to come up with ideas and doing the research was surprisingly fun. However, I feel like figuring out we had won was the most fun part”.
Go For Launch! Go For Life!
What an inspirational time it has been to hear from these astronomically amazing individuals! Something that is worth mentioning and taking note of is that, this was their FIRST Go For Launch! for all team members of Aeroloco! How astonishing is that? It is with no doubt that these students have been impacted positively by their Go For Launch! experience. We can’t wait to see their project take flight to space!
Congratulations to the Aeroloco team, we hope to cross orbits with you all again!
Written by Intergalactic Intern Shelby Morse
