Baku: The ‘Azerbaijan’s Victory’ PocketQube pico-satellite, built by Azerbaijani schoolchildren, was successfully launched into orbit from a space base in California aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, Rashad Bayramov, Advisor to the Minister of Digital Development and Transport, announced at a press conference held at the Space Academy.

According to Azerbaijan State News Agency, this mission was carried out as part of the ‘Azerbaijan National Satellite Innovation Competition’, organized by the Space Academy under Azercosmos, with support from the State Agency for Preschool and General Education, the Institute of Education under the Ministry of Science and Education, the Innovation and Digital Development Agency under the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport, PASHA Holding LLC, the Brazilian Space Agency, and Brazil’s IDEIA Space company. The competition was open to pupils in grades 7-9.

Rashad Bayramov explained that the name ‘Azerbaijan’s Victory’ was chosen intentionally. The satellite was inspired by the Victory in the Patriotic War and represents an initiative to foster schoolchildren’s patriotism, creativity, and interest in technology.

This school-based initiative is regarded as one of the largest technical-innovation programs in the region. A total of 672 pupils from 41 schools across the country participated in the project, which is expected to contribute to developing young people’s knowledge and skills in space technologies, engineering, and programming.

“Projects like this expand our youth’s involvement in the development of Azerbaijani space technologies and give confidence that they will play a role in future innovation projects. Azerbaijani youth are already part of this transformation, and we will continue our efforts to nurture future technology leaders,” Rashad Bayramov said.