Free for every student · Indianapolis

Join my Rocket Bootcamp

Your student builds, paints, and launches their own high-power rocket under my supervision. The rockets fly up to 5,000 feet. They learn aerodynamics, propulsion, recovery systems, and how FAA airspace coordination works. It is free for every student, and it always will be.

🚀 Sign up now Is it safe? For kids: your rocket

Cost
$0

Free for every student. Kits, motors, paint, tools, venue, food and transport are covered.

Ages
8 and up

Ages 6 and 7 can take part too, with a parent at the table for the build.

Build day
5 hours

Build and paint in one session. Launch day is separate, at an approved launch site.

Where
Central Indiana

The venue changes from cohort to cohort. The exact location and time go out to the sign-up list before each event.

Next dates
To be announced

Sign up below. Everyone on the list gets the dates, location and time first.

The rocket
Yours to keep

Every student takes their rocket home after launch day.

For Parents

What you should know

🌟

Free, forever

Grants and sponsors, including Lilly, MEPI, Cummins, and Purdue University, cover everything. Families never pay for the program.

🛡️

Flyer of Record

I am the Flyer of Record for every student rocket: I am responsible for each one being built correctly and flying safely. I am a Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry certified mentor.

🛫

FAA-coordinated launches

Launches are run with experienced high-power rocketry partners under FAA airspace coordination, on approved launch sites.

📞

I call every family

After you sign up, I personally call to confirm your spot, answer your questions, and walk you through the paperwork.

💰

$325 delivered per student

Kits, motors, tools, venues, food and transport add up to about $325 per participant. Your family pays $0.

🤝

A trained volunteer corps

Four volunteer training cohorts so far. 50+ trained adults run the program with me, with a volunteer at every table on build day.

Safety

Is it safe?

Yes. I run the bootcamp the way I run a capital construction project.

By day I manage a $150M+ construction project at Lilly. Lilly's construction safety standards are some of the best in the industry, and I take those standards and protocols and apply them directly to the way I run this bootcamp. You will not see that in another program like this: capital construction industry safety, implemented in a kids' rocketry program.

The framework is OSHA's hierarchy of controls. Every hazard in the program is handled in this order, most effective first:

  1. Elimination. Remove the hazard. Kids never touch a motor or an igniter. I buy, store, load, and arm every one.
  2. Substitution. Replace the hazard with something safer wherever the task allows it.
  3. Engineering controls. Approved launch sites, FAA airspace coordination, and a spectator line at the NAR and Tripoli safety-code distance.
  4. Administrative controls. A trained volunteer at every table, a range safety officer on launch day, and one Flyer of Record for every rocket: me.
  5. Personal protective equipment. The last layer.
Who is responsibleI am the Flyer of Record for every student rocket. I am responsible for each one being built correctly and flying safely. I am a Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry certified mentor.
Who is at the table50+ trained adult volunteers run the program with me. Four volunteer training cohorts so far. Every volunteer passes a background check.
Where it fliesLaunches run with experienced high-power rocketry partners under FAA airspace coordination, on approved launch sites, with everyone behind the spectator line.
For kids

This is what you build

That is a real high-power rocket, built and painted by a student your age, leaving the pad.

You build yours yourself. You paint it however you want. Then it flies up to 5,000 feet, almost a mile up, comes back down under a parachute, and you take it home.

Along the way you learn how rockets stay straight, what makes them go, how they come back, and how the airspace gets cleared for you to fly.

See more rockets in the gallery →

Rocket Bootcamp

High-Power Rocket Bootcamp

I started the bootcamp in August 2025 in Marion County, Indiana. It is free for every student. Each student builds, paints, and launches their own high-power rocket under my supervision as a Tripoli Rocketry Association and National Association of Rocketry certified mentor. The rockets fly up to 5,000 feet. Along the way they learn aerodynamics, propulsion, recovery systems, and how FAA airspace coordination works. I am the Flyer of Record: I am responsible for every rocket being built correctly and flying safely.

336 built 1,000 LAUNCHPAD ROAD TO 1,000 336 / 1,000 664 to go about 34% of the way there 170+ launched so far
336
Rockets built
170+
Rockets launched
220+
Participants trained · 50+ adult volunteers
$155K
Funding raised
$0
Cost to families · $325 of value per student
5,000 ft
Maximum altitude
1,000
Rocket goal
9
Cohorts · 2,800+ student contact hours
Figures as of October 2026, from program attendance records and funding agreements.
Funding partners · MEPI · Cummins · Lilly · Purdue University
5 Indiana communities, 10+ partner institutions. Bootcamps in Indianapolis and Fishers, launch days in Muncie, and this fall Lebanon builds and a Sheridan Airport launch.
Program partners · Indiana State Museum · City of Fishers · Enlace Academy · Girl Scouts of Central Indiana · Indiana Rocketry · Rocketeers of Central Indiana · 23 US small businesses directly funded
Group photo of bootcamp students and volunteers with their rockets at the launch field
Launch day: students, families and volunteers with their rockets
Teaching the rocket build at the workshop
Walking the class through the build
Tanaka Chonyera preparing igniters at the field prep station
Prepping motors and recovery at the field station
Freshly painted student rockets drying
Build weekend, freshly painted airframes
Volunteers carrying finished rockets
Volunteers carrying finished rockets to the range
Details

Quick answers

Who is it for?

Students ages 8 and up. Ages 6 and 7 can take part if a parent is at the table with them for the build. Parents and volunteers have a place on the same form.

What does it cost?

Nothing. The program is free for every student. Some cohorts use a small refundable commitment fee that is returned when your student completes their sessions.

What does a build day look like?

Five hours. Students build and paint their own high-power rocket with a trained volunteer at the table. Launch day is a separate day at an approved launch site, where everyone watches their rocket fly.

Where is it?

Marion County and central Indiana. The venue changes from cohort to cohort, so the exact location and time are sent to the sign-up list before each event.

When is the next one?

The next dates are not set yet. Sign up below and you will get the dates, location and time as soon as they are. The list hears first.

Does my student keep the rocket?

Yes. Every student takes their rocket home after launch day.

Is it safe?

Yes. The program runs under OSHA's hierarchy of controls and the safety standards I use on a $150M+ construction project at Lilly. Kids never touch a motor or an igniter, and I am the Flyer of Record for every rocket. Read the full answer.

What happens after I sign up?

I personally call every family to confirm attendance, answer questions, and walk you through the waiver paperwork. Your spot is locked in once the paperwork is complete.

Volunteer

Volunteer with me

50+ trained adults run the program with me. Four volunteer training cohorts so far, and a volunteer at every table on build day.

🔧

What you do

Sit with students through the five-hour build, help on launch day, carry rockets, and keep the day moving.

🎓

Training

I train every volunteer myself. Four training cohorts have gone through so far.

🔑

Background check

Required for every volunteer. No exceptions.

📝

How to sign up

Use the same form as the students below and mark yourself as a volunteer. I will call you. More on the Support page.

Testimonials

Testimonials

Comments from the Reddit threads about the Rocket Bootcamp, which have reached millions of viewers. Parents, teachers and engineers.

I'm so glad you're doing this for the community in Indy. You're a legend, man!
u/Visible_Nail4859r/indianapolis
As the former president of my sixth-grade rocketry club, I can tell you without any hesitation or fear of contradiction that what you are doing matters. Thank you.
u/Negative_Gravitasr/space
Well done! Your impact to these kids lives is probably immeasurable.
u/treesplease9r/indianapolis
Read the full testimonials page →
Sign up

Sign up
(Indianapolis - Nationwide coming soon!)

This form is the sign-up and the interest list, and it comes straight to me. When the next build day is set, everyone on the list gets the location and time. Students, parents, and volunteers welcome.

Trouble with the form? Open it in a new tab →