The Prospector 6 rocket, a full-scale prototype of a proposed small launch vehicle, was launched and recovered May 21 after reaching an altitude of almost 3,000 feet.

The vehicle was designed and built by Garvey Spacecraft Corp. and California State University Long Beach under the California Launch Vehicle Education Initiative. The team hopes the program leads to the development of a low-cost launch vehicle that can loft 10 kilograms to low Earth orbit.

The primary objective for the flight test was validation of the team’s ability to develop and handle a full-scale rocket. The vehicle also carried experiments developed by university students, including a miniature camera that captured video of the flight and a telemetry system that used commercial off-the-shelf wireless technology to downlink propulsion system data.

The launch took place at the Mojave (Calif.) Test Area, which is owned and operated by the Reaction Research Society.