Kenosha, Wisconsin — April 26, 2025 — Honolulu Community College (HonCC) earned multiple awards at the 2025 NASA Artemis Student Challenge: First Nations Launch, demonstrating strong performance among colleges and universities across the United States and Canada.

The archived HSGC announcement highlighted HonCC's success in both technical execution and team presentation. The team's results reflected careful engineering, strong communication, and a clear focus on safety throughout the competition.

HonCC stood out as one of the top-performing community colleges in the field and placed ahead of several major universities during the 2025 competition.

Competition Photos

Honolulu Community College team posing beside their painted rocket on the launch stand
The HonCC team stands beside its painted competition rocket at the launch field during the 2025 NASA Artemis First Nations Launch event.
Team members preparing the HonCC rocket on the launch rail before flight
Competition prep at the launch site, with the HonCC rocket positioned on the rail while the team and event staff make final checks.

Honors Received by Honolulu Community College

Moon Division

  • Written Report: 2nd Place
  • Oral Presentation: 1st Place
  • Grand Prize Award — U.S. Teams: 2nd Place Overall (Score: 91.05)

Special Awards

  • Aesthetic Award
  • Safety Award

HonCC's first-place finish in oral presentation underscored the team's ability to clearly explain its design, build process, and mission objectives to judges from NASA and the aerospace industry. The results also highlighted the college's continued strength in hands-on aerospace engineering and student competition work.

More than 195 students from 21 institutions participated in this year's competition. HonCC's performance demonstrated how community college teams can compete at a very high level in national launch challenges.

Honolulu Community College's achievements at the 2025 First Nations Launch reflect the dedication of its students and faculty. Their accomplishments help advance aerospace education in Hawai'i and show the important role community colleges play in developing the next generation of engineers and scientists.

Congratulations to the Honolulu Community College Rocketry Team on their success.

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