The University of Southern California Rocket Propulsion Laboratory (USCRPL) team in September launched their 4-meter, 136 kilogram Traveler 1 rocket from the Black Rock Desert in northern Nevada : Young Rocketeers Reach for Space – IEEE Spectrum.
The rocket exploded a few seconds after liftoff but the launch was a step in the right direction for the program.
USC Rocket Lab Launches Traveler 1 from USC Viterbi on Vimeo.