Mission 4 is Community’s First SSEP Flight Opportunity: Yellow
Mission 4 is Community’s at Least Second SSEP Flight Opportunity: Green
View SSEP Mission 4 to ISS Communities on a larger map
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, and NanoRacks are excited to announce that 11 student flight experiment teams have been selected for the sixth SSEP flight opportunity – Mission 4 to the International Space Station. A total of 40 student microgravity researchers, reflecting grades 5-11, are the Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, and Collaborators on the flight experiments.
The Orion payload of SSEP Mission 4 experiments (named for the Apollo 16 Lunar Module) is scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX-3 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on November 11, 2013. We are now at T-minus 153 days from the launch of SSEP Orion.
Links to descriptions of the Selected Flight Experiments and Honorable Mention Finalists, and their research teams; community profiles and local partners for each Mission 4 community; bios for members of the Step 2 Review Board for Mission 4; and the flight profile for Mission 4 are provided below.
Mission 4 Operations and Impact
The Mission 4 to ISS flight opportunity was announced on November 15, 2012. By the start of program operations on February 25, 2013, 11 communities from 7 States were aboard, and 3,080 grade 5-12 students were formally engaged in experiment design. At the conclusion of the 9-week experiment design phase a total of 744 microgravity flight experiment proposals were received from student teams, and 353 were forwarded for review by Step 1 Review Boards in the communities. Three finalist proposals were selected by each community’s Step 1 Revew Board for forwarding to NCESSE.
On May 21, 2013, the Mission 4 Step 2 Review Board met at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, reviewed all 33 finalist proposals, and selected one proposal to fly for each community, for a total of 11 flight experiments. By June 5, 2013, NASA’s Toxicology Office at Johnson Space Center had received the list of fluids and solids to be flown, formally initiating Flight Safety Review, which is expected to take a minimum of 90 days.
Congratulations to the over three thousand students participating in SSEP Mission 4 to the International Space Station. To one and all, speaking on behalf of your teachers, parents, and communities – we are very proud of you – and we hope SSEP inspires many of you go on to become America’s next generation of scientists and engineers.
National and Local Partners For Mission 4
As is the case for each SSEP flight opportunity, Mission 4 to ISS is enabled through remarkable partnerships between school districts, corporate foundations, universities, community foundations, and companies, which are providing both underwriting and material and human resources. The level of partnership speaks to what teams of organizations at the local, state, and national levels can do together in STEM education.
Mission 4 to ISS is made possible through the involvement of 66 Partner institutions. Some highlights:
For 8 of the 11 communities, Mission 4 was made possible in part by grants from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and Subaru of America, Inc., both National Partners on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
For 4 of the 11 communities, Mission 4 was made possible in part by grants from 3 Space Grant Lead Institutions: Purdue University, Indiana; Cornell University, New York; and PennState, Pennsylvania.
Links
Here are the links to the communities, experiments, and remarkable teams of student researchers. But before exploring the links, you are invited to scroll through the list of partner organizations provided below for each community. To all representatives of these partner organizations, if you see that your organization’s formal name or web link needs to be modified, let us know via the contact page.
Community Profiles and Local Partners: SSEP Mission 4 to ISS
Selected Experiments on SSEP Mission 4 to ISS
Mission 4 to ISS Flight Profile
Partners List for Mission 4 to ISS
STEM School
Douglas County School District
Raytheon Company
Subaru of America, Inc., SSEP National Partner
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
OtterCares Foundation
2. Indiana State Science Education Consortium, Indiana
Avicenna Academy
Eastern Pulaski Community School Corporation
Indiana Space Grant Consortium
Legacy Foundation
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
NIPSCO
Dean and Barbara White Family Foundation
Plymouth Tube Company
Carroll White REMC
Pulaski County CDC/Economic Development
Lead: Huron Intermediate School District
Bad Axe Public Schools
Caseville Public School
Elkton-Pigeon-Bay Port Laker Schools
Harbor Beach Community School District
North Huron School District
Owendale – Gagetown Area Schools
Port Hope Community Schools
Ubly Community Schools
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Cooperative Elevator Company
Dow AgroSciences Harbor Beach Operations
Harbor Beach Community Hospital
Huron Medical Center
Huron Tool & Engineering
Warren Consolidated Schools (WCS)
Chrysler Corporation
DTE Energy
Beaumont Health System
5. Children First Network 201, New York City, New York
Children First Network 201
New York City Department of Education
New Explorations into Science, Technology + Math (NEST+m) PTA
New York NASA Space Grant Consortium, Cornell University
Rochester Early College International High School
Rochester City School District
Rochester Area Community Foundation
Asia Society International Studies School Network
Downingtown STEM Academy
Downingtown Area School District
West Pharmaceutical Services, Inc.
Bentley Systems, Inc.
Subaru of America, Inc., SSEP National Partner
NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium
Litts Quality Technologies (LQT)
Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI)
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Trans Lunar Designs
AbsolutData
The SI Organization
Morphotek
Jamestown High School
Jamestown Area School District
Community Foundation of Western PA and Eastern OH
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
NASA Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium
Halcón Resources Corporation
ARMSTRONG
Ernst Conservation Seeds
Penn Power – A FirstEnergy Company
9. North Charleston, South Carolina
Palmetto Scholars Academy
South Carolina Public Charter School District
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR)
College of Charleston
Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
ISHPI
Hays Consolidated Independent School District
Texas Pioneer Foundation
Hays CISD Education Foundation
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Texas State University San Marcos
Cesar Chavez Elementary School
Pharr-San Juan-Alamo Independent School District
Pharr City Council
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), SSEP National Partner
National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
Magic Valley Electric Cooperative
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC, working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Carnegie Institution of Washington, NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium, and Subaru of America, Inc., are National Partners on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
