Building on its space legacy, Purdue University is pursuing a groundbreaking opportunity — research and learning aboard a Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceflight with an all-Boilermaker crew.
“With students, faculty and alumni all together, we are challenging the notion that a university is restricted to a geographical location on Earth.”
Arvind Raman, Purdue University
The flight, dubbed Purdue 1, is expected to occur in 2027. Purdue researchers and students plan to personally conduct and oversee experiments in microgravity, setting a precedent for academic access to space. The flight will provide an emphasis on Purdue teaching and research with onboard experiments about how fluids behave in zero gravity — a research area that is critical to advancing spaceflight design, fuel management and future long-duration space missions.
The flight is expected to represent Purdue faculty, students and alumni by featuring a five-person crew that includes Steven Collicott, a professor of aerospace engineering in the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics; current Purdue graduate student Abigail Mizzi; and alumnus Jason Williamson. The graduate student was chosen by a faculty research committee; two other alumni joining the flight will be named at a later date.
The suborbital spaceflight was announced in the Herman and Heddy Kurz Atrium at Purdue’s Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering.
“The Purdue 1 mission is designed to demonstrate what is possible in space. With students, faculty and alumni all together, we are challenging the notion that a university is restricted to a geographical location on Earth,” said Arvind Raman, John A. Edwardson Dean of the College of Engineering. “A university environment of research, learning and career success can also be continued beyond Earth to space, the next endless frontier.”
Known as the Cradle of Astronauts, Purdue has 30 alumni — 29 from Purdue Engineering — who have already flown in space or been selected as NASA astronaut candidates. Collicott, Mizzi and Williamson will be considered part of the Cradle of Astronauts following their Virgin Galactic flight. Mike Moses, Virgin Galactic’s president of Spaceline, is also a Purdue graduate.
“We anticipate that this mission with Purdue University will be a powerful demonstration of what can be possible when research institutions and educators gain direct access to the microgravity environment. By enabling researchers to accompany and interact with their experiments in real time, we are not just advancing science — we are empowering the next generation of innovators and expanding the frontiers of educational opportunity,” said Mike Moses, Spaceline president. “We expect Purdue 1 to be a milestone for our Spaceline and for the broader research and education community, showing how suborbital spaceflight can transform both scientific inquiry and hands-on STEM education.”
Designed to seat up to six passengers, Virgin Galactic’s next-generation spaceship is customizable and will have one seat removed for this mission to fly the five crew members and allow space for a payload rack to hold the research experiments.
Collicott and Mizzi, an aeronautics and astronautics engineering graduate student from Bloomingdale, Illinois, are expected to fly with original research payloads during the suborbital flight. The 22-year-old graduate student’s project is an evolved version of an automated NASA experiment that Collicott flew on Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 07 mission in 2024.
The Virgin Galactic flight is a dream in the making for Collicott, who was selected through a nationwide research proposal competition in December 2021 to receive an award from NASA’s Flight Opportunities. The program will fund his chance to fly to suborbital space and back on a Virgin Galactic craft while conducting this zero-gravity experiment.
Mizzi’s seat on the flight will be funded by donations being accepted by Purdue. The three remaining seats are expected to be filled by alumni passengers who will buy their seats on board Purdue 1.
One of those passengers is already selected. Williamson is senior vice president of the multidisciplinary design firm Dunaway. For him, the idea of journeying to space began in his childhood through building model rockets and attending Space Camp.
A second passenger seat has also been reserved by an alumna. Currently, the last passenger seat remains. Purdue alumni interested in being part of this historic mission as a passenger should contact Korina Wilbert, kwilbert@purdue.edu.