Rowan Wolforth

On August 15, 2025, Concordia students launched Starsailor, making history with Canada’s first attempt to reach space from domestic soil in more than 25 years.

Designed and built entirely by students at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, the liquid-fuel rocket was the first of its kind in the country to fly.

Rowan was the ground support equipment lead and chief safety officer for Space Concordia’s Rocketry Division.

On Starsailor’s launch:

As teammates erupted in cheers, Rowan’s mind shifted from joy to the next challenges: what went wrong, how to fix it and how to reach space in a future attempt. “You can’t see that and not be ecstatic,” he says. “But I think it’s maybe the mind of an engineer – for me, it was a moment of shock, and then immediately analyzing [Starsailor’s] flight path.”

Why Concordia:

Flexibility was key. Concordia allowed Rowan to begin in January instead of waiting for the next fall intake. He also met friends in Montreal who chose engineering at Concordia and encouraged him to join the rocketry division.

On moving to Quebec:

Rowan completed his elementary education in French and says he wasn’t concerned about using the language when he moved to Montreal. His advice to future out-of-province students is not to stress about trying to be fluent in French right away.

Favourite place in Montreal:

The top of Mount Royal (The Mountain)

This profile is part of sponsored content originally published in The Globe and Mail in collaboration with Concordia University.