Purdue University To Send Professors, Students & Alumni To Space With Virgin Galactic
An all-Purdue University crew is set to make history on a suborbital research flight with Virgin Galactic. Scheduled for launch in 2027, the mission, dubbed "Purdue 1," will see a professor, a student, and alumni from the university crew a Virgin Galactic spacecraft to conduct live experiments in the microgravity of space. In other news, Notre Dame and the Hoosiers are all going: "Why didn't we think of that first?"
Purdue has long history of being space bound; many of its alumni are names many of us are familiar with, such as Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom, Gene Cernan, and Yuri Kubo (from the NASA Astronaut Class of 2025). Purdue 1's crew, with two more alumni yet to be named, currently includes veteran Purdue aerospace engineering professor Steven Collicott, graduate student Abigail Mizzi, and engineering alumnus Jason Williamson.
The university said that the primary objective of the mission is to advance research in fluid physics: Professor Collicott will investigate how liquids spread on surfaces in zero-gravity—a crucial study for improving the design of rocket fuel systems and life support for future deep space missions. Mizzi's work will focus on the oscillation of liquids in a microgravity environment, which can help with understanding fluid dynamics in spaceflight. Unlike automated experiments, the real-time research will allow the crew a level of adaptability and immediate data collection that automated systems cannot replicate.
Nonetheless, the Purdue-Virgin partnership represents a new era of space access for educational institutions by expanding the idea of what campus research can be. This mission challenges the traditional notion of a university being confined to a physical campus, extending the boundaries of learning and research into (suborbital) space itself.
The partnership also highlights a unique approach to private space travel. Instead of a typical tourist flight, the mission's focus is on purpose-driven scientific research. The Virgin Galactic next-generation Delta-class spaceship, designed to seat six passengers and two pilots, will have one of its seats removed to make room for a dedicated payload rack for the experiments.
In short, Purdue 1 proves that space travel is not just for professional astronauts or paying tourists, but now also for universities with deep enough pockets.
Photo credits: Purdue University
