SSEP Antares and Aquarius II Experiments Payloads Integrated into Dragon Vehicle

NanoRacks informed the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education that the Antares payload, carrying the 11 Mission 2 experiment mini-labs, and the Aquarius II payload, carrying 12 Mission 1 experiment mini-labs for re-flight, were integrated into the SpaceX Dragon vehicle on Saturday, October 6, 2012.

We are now go for launch, at 8:35 pm ET today, of the first operational commercial flight to the International Space Station, with 23 SSEP experiments aboard, reflecting the culmination of work by over 7,000 students across the U.S., and 1,900 flight experiment proposals. A delegation of 110 SSEP students, teachers, and family members are at Kennedy Space Center for the launch.

Some coverage:

Space.com
Private SpaceX Cargo Ship Launching ‘New Era’ for Space Station Today

Space.com and MSNBC
SpaceX encore: 2nd private space station shipment

US News and World Report
SpaceX encore: 2nd private space station shipment

Wired.com
How SpaceX Will Keep the Space Station in Business

TechNewsWorld
Sunday’s SpaceX Launch: High Stakes for Commercial Spaceflight

 

 

 

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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 DreamUp PBC and NanoRacks LLC, which are 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.