We’re thrilled to share that on 1 July 2025, students from Croydon High School’s Astrogazers club successfully completed a critical “live test” phase of their Mission Pegasus CubeSat project aboard the FAAM Airborne Laboratory aircraft at Cranfield University. This milestone confirms that their satellite payload—designed to measure atmospheric air quality—operates and communicates flawlessly in flight conditions
Supported by University of Bath experts, the Royal Society, and industry partners like Spirent Communications and Surrey Space Centre, these students are on track to become the first all‑girls school worldwide to build and launch a satellite into orbit. Their next steps? Data analysis and the scheduled launch in 2026–27.
As Radio Communications Foundation Trustee – Professor Cathryn Mitchell from the University of Bath noted, “What seemed incredible is now becoming a reality”. Their achievement exemplifies innovation, perseverance, and female empowerment in STEM.
To top off a very impressive achievment, it has been marked by an early day motion in the house of commons presented by their MP Natasha Irons – “That this House congratulates the students of Croydon High School in Selsdon on completing a major phase of Mission Pegasus, their pioneering initiative to become the first all-girls school in the world to design, build and launch a satellite into space”
