Fitchburg, MA: Monty Tech student Brittany loading samples into the FME at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has honored all the SSEP researchers, their teachers, their families, and communities participating in the historic SSEP Mission 1 to ISS with a feature article at NASA.gov. It is a recognition that these student researchers are part of America’s Space Program in the 21st century, and a tribute to this next generation that will take the human race to new frontiers.

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and NanoRacks, would like to thank NASA for their unwavering support of SSEP, and the tens of thousands of students it touches.

We invite you to read the feature article, which in turn links to articles from the participating communities written by the SSEP community leadership. Through this feature, each community has been given the chance to tell their story of how this program has touched lives by providing a conduit for curiosity, ownership in learning, immersion in real research, and the joys of learning.

Direct URL
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/station-here-we-come.html

For Student main landing page – In the Spotlight area (1st item)
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html

For Educators main landing page – Educator Features and Articles area (1st item)
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/index.html

SSEP is undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in partnership with NanoRacks LLC. This on-orbit, real research opportunity for students is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

Artist's concept of Dragon preparing to berth with ISS. Image-credit: NASA

To all SSEP Mission 1 to ISS participants, take pride in another historic first.

I received the email below at 8:15 am today from Jeffrey Manber, NanoRacks’ Managing Director. Jeffrey is a great friend, in fact a great friend to all of us. He had faith in SSEP two years ago when we took the program from a drawing on a napkin to a national initiative in just 3 months, and launched with SSEP on STS-134 in June 2010.

Jeff,

We just want you to know that everyone, from NanoRacks to NASA, is really excited that the SSEP students and schools are not only the first–and only–commercial payload onboard the SpaceX Dragon now being readied for launch, but that SSEP is the only scientific research payload aboard.

It is an historic launch for the American space program, given that this is the first commercial cargo delivery to the International Space Station. And SSEP is part of that history!

–Jeffrey Manber

I know I keep repeating this, but so what. Right now, in this very moment, YOU ARE PART OF AMERICA’S SPACE PROGRAM. If that doesn’t make you step back and realize the remarkable potential in each of us, I’m not sure what will. And this goes for every student that was engaged in the enterprise of experiment design. And it also goes for every student that was engaged in mission patch design, for human exploration is also about the message that we communicate to one another through the arts and written word.

Why do I advocate that we are all part of this? Because we are all having this shared experience – together. And thousands of students stepped to the plate for the task at hand—to be part of pushing human understanding beyond what is currently known.

I am writing this in the midst of a review, at NASA’s request, of the final draft of a feature article written by NASA Headquarters on SSEP Mission 1 to ISS. We are honored, and humbled, that it is the fifth feature NASA has written on this program. Also at NASA’s request, for inclusion in the feature, I invited each of the 12 Mission 1 communities to write their own story about what this program has meant to them. What’s striking is that every story is different … and every story is the same. The program is having an impact on the perceived nature of science, the power of ownership in learning, and the gift of teamwork. But the individual student researchers, their teachers, the local partner organizations, and the communities are seeing those impacts in very personal ways.

NASA is trying to post the article by the time of Dragon’s launch. So stay tuned.

Finally, we still have room at Kennedy Space Center for the launch of the Dragon. If you’d like to attend, and have not contacted us yet, please do:)

And by the way, the missing FME mini-lab from Team Nebraska (Team #9) was delivered by United State Postal Service last Saturday and all mini-labs are safely aboard:) Hope you all weren’t biting your nails for nearly a week.

SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

The mini-labs were to be delivered today, but there’s a hitch — always is with real science. (And it’s not a duct tape moment.) Everyone, keep your fingers crossed that the United States Postal Service comes through tomorrow for Team #9.

Congratulations to all 15 flight experiment teams for locking down their experiment sample concentrations, assembling, loading, and sealing their flight hardware, and shipping to Houston. How does it feel to be part of America’s Space Program? How does it feel to be real space science researchers, flying an experiment in low Earth orbit that you researched, designed, proposed, and refined?

From earlier today—

From: Harri Vanhala, NCESSE Flight Operations Manager for SSEP

To: All SSEP Mission 1 Teams

NanoRacks informed us at 5.30 pm EDT today that the packages containing the flight-ready FMEs for the experiments scheduled to fly on SSEP Mission 1 to the International Space Station have arrived from all teams (except one; the team whose package is missing is aware of the situation and is attempting to resolve the problem with the United State Postal Service ASAP). The FMEs that have arrived are now safe and sound with NanoRacks. The integration of the SSEP payload is scheduled to take place this weekend; we’ll let everyone know once we’ve receive more news on the progress of the payload assembly.

Congratulations to all teams for getting their experiments ready for flight.

Launch is now just a few weeks away!

Harri

SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, and enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

The 11 communities profiled on the page are providing the opportunity for 15,120 grade 5-12 students to design and propose real experiments for flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of SSEP Mission 2 to ISS. A total of 72 schools in 9 States are engaged. Four of the communities participated in earlier SSEP flight opportunities on Space Shuttle missions STS-134 and STS-135, and Mission 1 to ISS.

Each community has a real research mini-laboratory reserved to fly on ISS for a microgravity flight experiment selected through their local SSEP experiment design competition. The Mission 2 to ISS community leadership project that a minimum of 4,530 students will be fully engaged in experiment design, and a minimum of 932 flight experiment proposals from student teams will be received.

A total of 32,650 grade preK-12 students are being given the opportunity to participate in SSEP Mission 2 community-wide programming, which includes the design of Mission Patches to fly aboard ISS.

Besides the 11 school districts participating in Mission 2, we would like to thank over 50 partner organizations that have made Mission 2 possible through generous underwriting, and through support from their research staff. The new page provides a comprehensive list of the entire national network of Mission 2 partners.

Partnership? It makes the world go round — for thousands of these students, many of whom might decide to become America’s next generation of scientists and engineers because of this experience. So please pass on this post to your staff along with a heartfelt thank you, so that all can take pride in what we are doing together.

Jump to the Community Profiles and Local Partners: SSEP Mission 2 to ISS page

SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

To the thousands of students participating in Mission 2, and to their teachers, families, and communities, welcome to America’s space program, and real research on the frontiers of human exploration.

Mission 2 to ISS Communities. Click on Map to Zoom

In the next two weeks NCESSE will be posting a formal Community Profile page for Mission 2 communities that will provide an overview of each community’s: program scope, strategic needs in STEM education and how SSEP helps address those needs, list of partner organizations that are making Mission 2 possible, SSEP leadership team. (For a preview, see the SSEP Mission 1 to ISS Community Profile page.)

Here now are the 11 communities for Mission 2 to ISS, together with their organizational partners and links to websites. It should be noted that at least 51 organizational partners are making Mission 2 to ISS possible—which speaks to a remarkable breadth of community spirit, and a dedication to STEM education at a time when America needs it most. (To SSEP Community Program Directors, if we have left out any of your organizational partners, please let us know and we will update this post immediately):

1. Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District
LEAD: Lincoln Middle School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Marianna O’Brien, Carol Wrabel

Organizational Partners:
California Space Grant Consortium

2. East Lyme, Connecticut
East Lyme School District
LEAD: East Lyme Middle School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Deborah Galasso, Linda Nastri, Carla Woitovich

Organizational Partners:
Connecticut Space Grant Consortium
Dominion
Pfizer

3. Chicago, Illinois (their second SSEP flight)
Chicago Public Schools
LEAD: Skinner West Classical, Fine Arts, and Technology School
SSEP Community Program Director: Kori Milroy

Organizational Partners:
Motorola Solutions Foundation
Subaru of America

4. Cicero, Illinois
Cicero School District 99
LEAD: Unity Junior High School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Elsa Berrios, Vikki Parkinson

Organizational Partners:
Exxon Mobil

5. Fitchburg, Massachusetts (their third SSEP flight)
LEAD: Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School
SSEP Community Program Director: Paula deDiego

Organizational Partners:
Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium
Nypro
NyproMold
NCMWIB: North Central Massachusetts Workforce Investment Board
OPK Biotech
Micron Integrated Technologies

6. Pennsauken, New Jersey
LEAD: Pennsauken Township Public Schools
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Mike Ostroff, Peter Woodcock

Organizational Partners:
Subaru of America
The Dow Chemical Company
Holman Enterprises
Celgene Corporation
Cherry Tree Corporate Center
New Jersey Space Grant Consortium
HESS
Toth Technologies
WORKNET Occupational Medicine
Mega Wireless

7. Guilford County, North Carolina (their second SSEP flight)
LEAD: Guilford County Schools
SSEP Community Program Director: Shirley Stipe-Zendle
Team Leads: Lenny Sue French, Cassandra Flemming, Robin Marrs, Alison Manka

Organizational Partners:
North Carolina Space Grant
The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro
Ellison Family Foundation
Enrichment Fund for the Guilford County Schools

8. Houston, Texas (their second SSEP flight)
Houston Independent School District
LEAD: Johnston Middle School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Nena Berry, Amber Pinchback

Organizational Partners:
Texas Space Grant Consortium
KBR
Advanced Metal Fusion
Coca-Cola North America
Lockheed Martin

9. Presidio, Texas
LEAD: Presidio Independent School District
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Shella Condino, Dennis McEntire

Organizational Partners:
ETT – Electric Transmission Texas
S. Kanetzky Engineering
Pfluger Associates Architects
Kleinman Consultants

10. Russell County, Virginia
Russell County Public Schools
LEAD: Lebanon High School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Jane Carter, Scotty Fletcher

Organizational Partners:
Virginia Space Grant Consortium
Dominion
CGI Technologies and Solutions
Verizon
Alpha Natural Resources
Russell County Board of Supervisers
Southwestern Virginia Technology Council
Northrop Grumman
Virginia Tech Southwest Center
Crutchfield

11. Shoreline, Washington
Shoreline Public Schools
CO-LEADS: Einstein Middle School, Highland Terrace Elementary School
SSEP Community Program Co-Directors: Stephanie Clark, Mike Van Oden

Organizational Partners and Individuals:
Tiia-Mai Redditt
Knossos Foundation
Shoreline Public Schools Foundation
Kathleen Wong and Family

SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

Mission patch designed by Hope Welder, an 11th grade student at San Marino High School, San Marino, California. Click on the Image to Zoom

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is about inspiring America’s next generation of scientists and engineers, and engaging entire communities in the process. Student teams proposing real experiments to fly on the International Space Station is the core SSEP activity. But community-wide engagement, and cross-disciplinary learning are also cornerstone objectives for SSEP in the context of the embraced Learning Community Model for STEM education (see the SSEP Community Program page.)

In this spirit, and continuing the tradition of SSEP on the final flights of Space Shuttles Endeavour and Atlantis, SSEP provides the opportunity for each participating community to conduct an art and design competition to create a Mission Patch—a paper 4-inch x 4-inch square emblem that captures the community’s SSEP experience. The selected Mission Patches will fly to ISS as part of the experiments payload, and will be returned embossed with a certification of flight in space. The mission patch competition is also an opportunity to keep community-wide excitement alive, and a means to extend the program in an interdisciplinary manner to engage, e.g., art and design, and history classes.

The winning Mission Patch from Johnston MIddle School, Houston, Texas. Click on the Image to Zoom

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is therefore proud to present the 22 Mission Patches selected for flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in Aquarius, the experiments payload for SSEP Mission 1 to ISS. Across the 12 communities participating in Mission 1 to ISS, there were 2,299 patch designs submitted by 4,936 students. Judges within the communities selected the 22 patches.

See the selected patches and read about the competition in each community at the Mission Patches on Mission 1 to the International Space Station page.

You can also read more about the Mission 1 to ISS Patch Competition at the main SSEP website.

SSEP is the first pre-college STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. SSEP is enabled through NanoRacks LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

To all teachers and administrators reading this, we’d like to invite you to put SSEP to work for your students in a whole new way. SSEP is real science and real spaceflight, all the time. It’s already engaged many students across your community, and likely has been covered by local media, so it’s objectives and program operations are familiar. The challenge—use the SSEP experience for ALL students of science across your community as a series of teachable moments, as a window on how research is really done. Shouldn’t that be a core objective of science education—an understanding of how science is actually undertaken by researchers? The challenges along the way? The journey? And you have real researchers in your community. They are the student Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, and Collaborators that designed experiments and wrote proposals to represent your community in orbit. Think about this … your community has its own space program … and your student researchers enable it, can take pride in it, and should talk about it.

One way to put the, e.g., Fitchburg, MA, or Charles County, MD, or Houston ISD Space Program to work for you is to put your student proposing teams to work as Ambassadors. Have them visit other classrooms and other grade levels across your community, maybe visiting other schools. Have them talk about how they first noodled ideas for, and then formally designed an experiment based on the constraints of mini-lab operation and spaceflight operations to and from low Earth orbit (think about what you just read!) Have them talk about what it’s like writing a real research proposal and the proposal selection process. Have your selected flight experiment team talk about the process for loading the mini-lab, how it will get to the International Space Station, and how they will analyze their experiment samples on return to Earth.

We always think of astronauts as heroes and role models we’d like to get in front of a class. But wait a second, what about all the scientists and engineers that make spaceflight and space science possible? And what about your own student SSEP researchers? Should they not be role models and heroes to other students? There is real opportunity here for inspiration of the next generation through leveraging of the SSEP experience.

OK, now for the untold story of Mission 1 flight experiment selection. What a great set of teachable moments.

Here is how it was supposed to play out—

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program is proud to report that there were a total of 779 proposals submitted from student teams across the 12 communities participating in Mission 1 to ISS—by far the greatest number of proposals received for a SSEP flight opportunity to date. Of those, 382 proposals were put forward for review by Step 1 Review Boards in each of the communities. Each Step 1 Review Board selected up to three finalist proposals, which were submitted to the National SSEP Step 2 Review Board. On December 13 and 14, 2011, the Step 2 Review Board met at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, reviewed all 35 finalist proposals, and selected one proposal to fly for each community, for a total of 12 flight experiments. The national press release announcing the selection of the Mission 1 to ISS flight experiments is provided in a January 5, 2012. SSEP National Blog post. It is noteworthy that the 779 proposals received reflected a total of 3,490 students fully engaged in experiment design.

Congratulations to the thousands of students and their teachers participating in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program for the first mission to the International Space Station. Well done!

THE REST OF THE STORY (welcome to the world of REAL spaceflight): In the midst of formal selection of the Mission 1 to ISS flight experiments, NanoRacks informed NCESSE that based on recent conversations with NASA regarding payload handoff to the Russians, they had to alter an important constraint on Aquarius, the Mission 1 experiments payload. Aquarius could no longer be refrigerated during transport from Houston to Kazakhstan, and during its storage at the launch site before being placed on Soyuz 30. This had the potential to significantly impact all flight experiments given that proposing teams were designing their experiments with refrigeration in mind. All 12 student flight teams were very rapidly asked to do a careful review of their experiments in light of the loss of refrigeration. For 3 communities it was found that the flight experiment would be severely impacted. For each of these three communities, the other finalist proposals were rapidly re-evaluated by their student teams to see if refrigeration was a requirement. Luckily, for all three communities a second flight experiment was identified and NanoRacks agreed to fly two experiments for each of these communities. A total of 15 experiments are therefore flying in Aquarius to ISS, including the three secondary flight experiments. All of this was taking place against a very fast moving clock, where a list of all experiment fluids and solids flying needed to get to NASA toxicology at Johnson Space Center or risk loss of flight of the Mission 1 payload.

We notified SSEP leadership across the Mission 1 communities regarding the crisis at hand via phone calls and an email titled “Urgent Communique On Flight Experiment Selection – Houston We Have A Problem”. The experience at the local level that ensued was captured in a series of emails by Wyeth Collo, the SSEP Community Program Director in San Marino, California:

Note that times below are in EST as received by NCESSE in Washington, DC, while Wyeth is in California, 3 hours earlier.

12/14/11, 10:56 pm: NCESSE issues Communique

12/14/11, 11:20 pm: Unfortunately received. This is real science.

12/15/11, 12:07 pm: Knowing now that refrigeration is an issue, a different proposal might have been selected that does not require refrigeration. I am assuming this is not possible.

12/15/11, 1:12 am: I do understand. While many of the teams focused on refrigeration as a means of controlling growth as outlined in previous emails and postings, this change is tough so late in the game. [using a natural selection metaphor] As I tell my students… adapt, migrate or die…. migrating and dying are not options here.

Timing on this end is going to be tough since we are entering into finals, but again, we will make the necessary changes.

12/15/11, 1:35 am: I just [got] off the phone with the team leaders, two of the proposals require refrigeration on both ends of the experiment, while one needs only [on one] end. However, changing the quantity of cells initially loaded and delaying the mixing might not require refrigeration since the time from returning to earth and returning to the experiment teams is not too long. i will have the other experiment ready in the morning as soon as i get in.

12/15/11, 1:45 am: I hope for good news tomorrow. get some sleep.

12/15/11, 11:27 am: Good Morning. Do you need a written change in protocol so as to accommodate the change in refrigeration? I have all three teams working on changing their procedures. Do you need written changes sent to you for approval [of a second flight experiment] prior to [the 12 noon EST] deadline?

12/15/11, 7:42 pm: Good Evening Jeff. Today/last night was interesting and intense. When I got to school today, I had to cancel lecture and call all the kids from all three teams in. By the time they assembled, it was now 8:10 and I explained to everyone what the new rules were and if you want to play, you had to change or modify the procedures. I told them they had 45 minutes to get this done. As a teacher, watching these three groups come together and problem solve gives me hope for the future. Today was exciting and exhausting. I’m sure it’s worse for you.

I want to say thanks for the opportunity. With that being said, we want more…

I have included the Implementation plan [for Mission 2 to ISS].

Thanks again,
Wyeth

This is REAL science and REAL spaceflight. It is not nice and neat. It is not predictable. Often you need to get that roll of duct tape out to save the day (watch Apollo 13, the movie). Every one of the student teams across the nation stepped to the plate in a big way that day back in December 2011. We should all be incredibly proud of them.

And … that wasn’t the end of the story. On January 30, 2012, 12:30 am EST, NanoRacks informed NCESSE that Soyuz 30, the Aquarius launch vehicle, failed a critical pressurization test (see February 1, 2012, SSEP National Blog post). On February 13, 2012, NCESSE was officially notified that in response to the failure NASA had moved Aquarius from the Soyuz 30 to SpaceX Dragon launch vehicle, launching out of Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This meant that refrigeration was restored, all 15 experiments would still fly, and SSEP would be part of history as Dragon became the first commercial vehicle to dock with ISS, heralding in a new era in space travel. All this is covered in the February 13, 2012, National Blog post.

Now you know the rest of the story (so far). You might want to get reacquainted with the experiment teams that took part in this behind-the-scenes adventure by visiting the SSEP Mission 1 to ISS Experiments page.

Artists Concept - Dragon on ISS Approach. Photocredit: NASA and SpaceX

NanoRacks has informed us that NASA has formally moved Aquarius, the SSEP experiments payload for Mission 1 to the International Space Station (ISS) from Soyuz 30 to the SpaceX Dragon vehicle.

We were there for the end of the Space Shuttle era with the flight of SSEP experiment payloads Eagle and Intrepid on the final flights of Endeavour (STS-134) and Atlantis (STS-135). SSEP now heralds in the new era of commercial spaceflight to orbit with Aquarius on Dragon. It’s probably one of those ‘I was part of it’ moments you should remember to tell your children or grand children when you look back from the year 2040—a time when ordinary people traveling into space will no doubt be routine.

2/13/12 BREAKING NEWS: We have been officially informed by NanoRacks at 12:28 pm EST today that the flight of Dragon to ISS is “No Earlier Than” (NET) April 20, 2012. The deadline for student teams to deliver their mini-labs to Houston has now been moved from February 24 to April 1.

We are resetting the countdown clock for Mission 1 to ISS to 12 noon Eastern, NET March 20, 2012.

If you’ve not read it, the reason why the launch of Aquarius was moved from Soyuz 30 to SpaceX Dragon was covered in a February 1, 2012, SSEP National Blog post. Here is the link—

TO ALL MISSION 1 FLIGHT EXPERIMENT TEAMS: Time Critical Update – Impact of Soyuz 30 Failure on SSEP Mission 1 to ISS

If you’ve not read it, a brief overview of the remarkably historic nature of our times regarding human spaceflight was covered in a February 6, 2012, SSEP National Blog post. Here is the link—

An Invitation to the Parents of All Students that Have Participated in SSEP to Date – Help Us Inspire and Engage the Next Generation

To All Flight Experiment Teams

Delivery of Mini-Labs to Houston and Launch
Given that the launch date has slipped to no earlier than (NET) April 20, 2012, all student teams are advised that the deadline for delivering your flight-ready mini-laboratory to NanoRacks in Houston has been changed from February 24, 2012, to April 1, 2012.

Refrigeration and Return Flight
To ensure flight readiness, earlier in the week we provided the following information to all Teacher Facilitators for the selected flight experiments, so that each student flight team could proceed with their schedule for filling and sealing their Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FME) minilab and shipping to Houston for payload integration into Aquarius.

Refrigeration
Because Dragon launches from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and not from Kazakhstan, NanoRacks is able to refrigerate the experiments until launch. Once the flight-ready mini-laboratories sent by the experiment teams reach NanoRacks in Houston, they can be put immediately into refrigeration, as long as the team has requested cold storage for their experiment in advance. After the individual mini-laboratories are incorporated into the SSEP Aquarius payload, the entire payload will be placed into a cold bag for placement aboard the SpaceX vehicle, and handed over to NASA for transport to the International Space Station. The cold bag will contain cold bricks that will hold the temperature at 4 degrees Celsius (39 degrees Fahrenheit), so that the entire payload is refrigerated until it reaches the International Space Station.

Return Flight–Soyuz 29
The launch date for Soyuz 30 remains uncertain. Aquarius is scheduled to return via Soyuz 29, which is currently docked with ISS. Soyuz 29 is to ferry 3 of the current ISS crew members back to Earth. But given that Soyuz 30 was to ferry 3 new crew members to ISS, the de-orbit of Soyuz 29 will in all likelihood be significantly delayed beyond the originally scheduled May 16, 2012, return date, given the strong desire to not have less than 6 astronauts on Station as is currently the case. All student teams should prepare for a potentially many week delay for return to Earth, which would extend the stay of the Aquarius payload on orbit.

The Student Space Flight Experiments Program [or SSEP] is undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), a project of the 501(c)(3) Tides Center, in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. This on-orbit educational research opportunity is enabled through NanoRacks, LLC, which is working in partnership with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

We also want to say congratulations to all SSEP student researchers and teachers that have taken part in all 3 flight opportunities to date, and written a total of 1,756 student team proposals for flight experiments. In a very real way, Kyra and Anthonette were Ambassadors to the White House on behalf of all of you, and your good works.

Today’s event was the 2nd Annual White House Science Fair, which “recognizes the importance of scientists, engineers, and inventors.’ Today the President of the United States honored 100 students from across America, representing 40 different student competitions. And through Kyra and Anthonette, that honor was bestowed to all of you.

We have reprinted a NASA Press Release below covering the event. In addition, here are some relevant links:

From the WHITE HOUSE:

White House Science Fair: Recognizing the Importance of Scientists, Engineers, and Inventors

Background on the Exhibits, Students and Competitions at the White House Science Fair, which recognizes Kyra Smith, and SSEP

From the SSEP Community Network Hubsite:

The Washington, DC, Selected Flight Experiment and Honorable Mentions: See Community #4:
http://ssep.ncesse.org/communities/experiments-selected-for-flight/selected-experiments-on-ssep-mission-1-to-iss/

The Washington, DC, SSEP Community Profile

RELEASE: 12-044

NASA OFFICIALS PARTICIPATE IN 2ND ANNUAL WHITE HOUSE SCIENCE FAIR

WASHINGTON — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and other senior agency officials joined President Obama in honoring student science fair winners from across the country at the second annual White House Science Fair today in the East Wing of the White House. The event highlighted student achievement and excellence in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM.

In November 2009, the president announced his “Educate to Innovate” campaign and emphasized the importance of encouraging students to pursue STEM studies and careers. NASA has developed a wide variety of education programs that use the inherent excitement of space exploration and science to inspire students and generate interest in STEM.

“Programs like this science fair help students develop critical skills and get hands-on experience that will serve them and our nation well in the future,” Bolden said. “These talented students are tomorrow’s science leaders, and their skills will be critical to helping us make an American economy built to last.”

Joining Bolden at the event were NASA’s Associate Administrator for Education Leland Melvin and Associate Administrator for Science John Grunsfeld. Both Melvin and Grunsfeld also are veteran space shuttle astronauts who frequently use their flight experiences as catalysts for engaging students’ interest in space and science. NASA Chief Technologist, Mason Peck, NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati, and Paul Hertz, chief scientist for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate, also attended the fair and met with student honorees.

Among the winning science experiments displayed at the White House today were two that related directly to NASA’s mission, including entries from a girls’ rocket team and a FIRST Robotics alliance.

The “Young Women Rocketing to Nationals” team featured Janet and Ana Karen Nieto of Presidio, Texas, who are members of the Presidio High School Rocketry Team that competed as a national finalist in the Team America Rocketry Challenge in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Gwynelle Condino, a 7th grade student at Lucy Franco Middle School in Presidio, is the team’s leader this year.

“A Winning Robotics Alliance, with Astronauts Cheering Them On” team was comprised of John Drake of Schaumburg, Ill., Sean Murphy of Atascadero, Calif., and Eric Bakan of San Jose, Calif. They represented the winning alliance of the 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship and were mentored by engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.

Two other NASA-related education programs also were represented at today’s event.

Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE), is a hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program where students, teachers and scientists worldwide collaborate on investigations of the environment and the Earth system. Participants work in close partnership with NASA and other federal agencies.

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) was launched in June 2010 by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC. Student teams in grades 5-12 propose microgravity experiments for flight in a research minilab that may be flown to the International Space Station. SSEP is enabled through a space act agreement as part of the International Space Station’s use as a National Laboratory.

(Left to right) Michael Prince, Maxx Denning and Aaron Stuart coauthored the proposal titled “Will Vitamin C Help Preserve Bone Density in Microgravity?” as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program efforts of Parker Elementary School in Houston, Texas.

Yesterday we received a special thank you from the parents of Michael Prince, a Co-Principal Investigator on a Mission 1 flight experiment to the International Space Station. Michael is a 5th grader at Parker Elementary School in Houston. Michael’s dad points to “great teachers, schools and programs like this”. We may have supplied the program but it was Johnston Middle and Parker Elementary in Houston ISD that provided the great teachers and schools. To spread the thanks, we asked if we could post the note, and Michael’s dad graciously said yes. Below is the thank you. If it moves you, feel free to leave a comment below:)

“I am the father of Michael and would like to thank you for your program. Our son has really been excited and we are eternally grateful. As parents our job is to give direction and the necessary support to our children. With great teachers, schools, and programs like this, it makes our work a “joyride”. We can see a noticeable change in our son and his “vision” has now been expanded beyond just the “here and now”. Our family and friends are proud but also humbled by this achievement which is truly a blessing.We look forward to the continued progress and success of the project and the program, praying that both will help bring advancement for our world in the area of science. Again, we thank you.”

Mr. Michael Prince
and Karan Prince

Here is a descripion of the flight experiment from Co-PIs Denning, Prince, and Stuart, staff of the Parker Elementary School Space Program—

Will Vitamin C Preserve Bone Density in Microgravity?
Grade 5; Parker Elementary School
Co-Principal Investigators: Maxx Denning, Michael Prince, and Aaron Stuart
Teacher Facilitator: Rebecca Mitchell, 5th Grade Teacher

Proposal Summary:
Our experiment will test to see if liquid Vitamin C will preserve bone density in microgravity in a chicken bone. Our team is conducting this experiment to prove whether or not vitamin C can preserve bone density. First, we will split a wish bone in half. Next, we will place one half in each FME. Finally, one wish bone half will be flown in a chamber into space. The other bone sample will be remain in the same type chamber on earth. When the one from space returns, we will measure the affects of microgravity on the bone and compare it to the sample on earth in an effort to see if liquid Vitamin C did preserve bone density.

If liquid Vitamin C helps preserve bone density, then this will be helpful to astronauts who stay in space over a long period of time. Astronauts can take vitamin C in addition to exercising to help keep their bones strong. This issue is more important than ever because we know that WHEN we go to Mars, it will take about 21 months (round trip). If we cannot find a way to preserve bone density, the astronauts will lose over one half of their bone density on a long term mission. On earth, this knowledge will help people by encouraging them to take Vitamin C to keep their bones strong.