When NASA’s Artemis II crew successfully slingshotted around the Moon in April 2026, it marked the first time in more than 50 years that humans made such a journey.

The Purdue 1 mission is a first: a university-led, research-focused suborbital flight with an all-Boilermaker crew. In a few minutes of weightlessness, experiments that span quantum physics, manufacturing and fluid dynamics will test whether the systems that humanity will need in space can be made efficient, reliable and operationally resilient.

Today, Jorge Hernandez is a senior in Purdue's Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and is expected to graduate in December 2026. Along the way, he has built a college experience filled with research, student organizations, internships, global experiences and career opportunities that he says exceeded anything he imagined.

Launching this fall, the Purdue Hub for Innovation, Ventures and Entrepreneurship (Purdue HIVE), operated by the College of Engineering, is a new center designed to expand innovation and startup activity within Purdue University.

Ten College of Engineering students are among 74 Purdue University student-athletes who earned Academic All-Big Ten accolades in the spring 2026 sports season.

To sustain operations in space, you have to be able to build in space. That’s the idea behind the first ever university course focused on In-Space Manufacturing — hosted by the Cradle of Astronauts, Purdue University.

Audrey Powers, vice president of mission and flight operations at Blue Origin, shares how overcoming challenges as a student helped her entire career.

When Ananya Anand Nadkarni left Pune, Maharashtra, India, to study at Purdue University, she was looking for more than a degree.

Together, the large animal surgery, diagnostic imaging, and ophthalmology services worked with the help of expertise from Purdue’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics to 3D print Sassy a protective helmet.

On the Purdue 1 mission, Abigail Mizzi will become the first grad student to conduct research on a commercial suborbital flight