Caption: Five experiments from Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) Missions 14 and 15 to the International Space Station are scheduled to launch aboard SpaceX-22 at 1:29 pm ET, June 3, 2021, from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Seen above is SpaceX-21 docked at the International Space Station against the limb of Earth, SpaceX-21 launched on December 6, 2020 and carried 27 SSEP Mission 14 experiments. Credit: NASA
Launch of SSEP Mission 14 and Mission 15 to the International Space Station
From Dr. Jeff Goldstein
Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) National Program Director
Center Director, National Center for Earth and Space Science Education
The SSEP Mission 14 to ISS flight experiments payload designated Apollo, containing 3 of the 33 Mission 14 experiments, and the SSEP Mission 15 is ISS flight experiments payload designated Skylab, containing 3 of 5 Mission 15 experiments, are scheduled to launch Saturday, August 28, 2021, at 3:37 am ET from Space Launch Complex 39A (SLC-39A) at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida, aboard SpaceX CRS-23 (SpaceX Commercial Resupply Service mission 23).
Note: 1 additional Mission 14 experiment has been moved to a later flight due to the impact of Covid-19 on the ability of student teams to prep for flight.
A heartfelt congratulations to all 16,600 students that participated in Mission 14 microgravity experiment design, and submitted 3,076 flight experiment proposals for formal review and selection; the 23,600 students that participated in the Mission Patch art and design competitions; and the 129 student Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, and Collaborators comprising the student researcher teams for the 33 selected SSEP Mission 14 flight experiments. And, congratulations to all 1,700 students that participated in Mission 15 microgravity experiment design, and submitted 485 flight experiment proposals for formal review and selection; the 2,300 students that participated in the Mission Patch art and design competitions; and the 20 student Principal Investigators, Co-Investigators, and Collaborators comprising the student researcher teams for the 5 selected SSEP Mission 15 flight experiments.
We are all very proud of you. You are the next generation of researchers on the frontiers of exploration.
As of this writing, we are at T-minus 1 day and counting – see the countdown clock in the right column.
Prior to launch, I would like to address SSEP students, and their teachers, administrators, and families. I want to provide a sense of their remarkable accomplishment – and not just the flight teams but all 18,300 SSEP Mission 14 and Mission 15 student researchers, and the 25,900 students engaged in the mission patch competitions – and let them know they are truly part of America’s Space Program. I want to speak not just from the vantage point of creator and director of SSEP, but also from the vantage point of 11 year old me watching the launch of Apollo 11 in July of 1969 and knowing in that moment I wanted to be a space explorer. There are these moments in our lives that change us, and maybe the launch on Saturday, with your community’s experiment aboard, can be one of those moments for many Mission 14 and Mission 15 students. That’s why we created this program.
The launch will be covered live on NASA TV and at SpaceX, and we’ve provided video portals below for both if you’d like to watch right here on the SSEP National Program website. Also below is the August 20, 2021, NASA Media Advisory that provides NASA TV live coverage times for launch on Saturday, August 28 and arrival at Station on Sunday, August 29.
-Jeff
Schedule of Events for Friday, August 27
12:00 pm ET – NASA TV live pre-launch coverage begins (view in video portal below)
Schedule of Events for Saturday, August 28
3:15 am ET – NASA TV live coverage of the launch of SpaceX-23 and SSEP Mission 14 Apollo payload and SSEP Mission 15 Skylab payload begins
3:22 am ET – SpaceX live coverage of the launch of SpaceX-23 and SSEP Mission 14 Apollo payload and SSEP Mission 15 Skylab payload begins (view in video portal below)
Schedule of Events for Sunday, August 29
9:30 am ET – NASA TV coverage begins for Dragon docking to the ISS.
1:00 am ET – Docking
Mission 14 to ISS Historical Data
Number of Participating Communities: 32
Scope: 16,600 grade 5-16 students fully engaged in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: 3,076
Number of experiments selected for flight: 33; 1 community flying 2 experiments – University of Pittsburgh; (27 experiments flew on SpaceX-21; 3 flew on SpaceX-22; 3 flying on SpaceX-23 and one on a later flight)
Announcement of Opportunity: March 22, 2019
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: September 3 – November 1, 2019 (9 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: December 17, 2019
Mission 15 to ISS Historical Data
Number of Participating Communities: 5
Scope: 1,700 grade 5-16 students fully engaged in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: 485
Number of experiments selected for flight: 5; (2 experiments flew on SpaceX-22 and 3 flying on SpaceX-23)
Announcement of Opportunity: February 3, 2020
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: September 21 – November 18, 2020 (8.5 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: December 18, 2020
MEDIA PACKAGE for SSEP Mission 14 to ISS and SSEP Mission 15 to ISS flying on SpaceX-23
– webpages
Mission 14 Media Coverage: 57 articles as of 12/3/20
Mission 14 Community Profiles: 32 communities, 99 organizational partners, 304 schools
Mission 15 Community Profiles: 5 communities, 7 organizational partners, 43 schools
– downloadable documents (PDFs) reflecting just the 3 (of 33) Mission 14 experiments and just the 3 (of the 5) Mission 15 experiments flying on SpaceX-23
SSEP National Program Overview
Mission 14 and Mission 15 Impact Profile
Mission 14 and Mission 15 Communities Map
Mission 14 and Mission 15 Flight Experiments Summary Table
Mission 14 and Mission 15 Flight Experiments: Research Teams and Experiment Descriptions – an experiment-by-experiment summary including community, school, grade level, research team (PIs, Co-Is and Collaborators), and experiment abstract
Historical Multimedia –
We also invite you to explore the SSEP Launch and On-Orbit Operations History page, which provides a sense of the rich history of the SSEP Program. Here you will find s list of SSEP missions and payload designations, videos of all SSEP launches, a list of all astronauts that have operated SSEP experiments, and videos of astronauts operating the experiments.
WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH LIVE ON THIS NASA TV PORTAL
WATCH SPACEX LAUNCH LIVE ON THIS SPACEX PORTAL
August 20, 2021
MEDIA ADVISORY M21-098
NASA Sets Coverage, Invites Public to Virtually Join Next Cargo Launch
NASA commercial cargo provider SpaceX is targeting Saturday, Aug. 28, at 3:37 a.m. EDT to launch its 23rd commercial resupply services mission to the International Space Station. Liftoff will be from Launch Complex 39A at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will deliver new science investigations, supplies, and equipment for the international crew.
Live coverage will air on NASA Television, the NASA app and the agency’s website, with prelaunch events starting Friday, Aug. 27.
Dragon will deliver a variety of NASA investigations, including one that will determine if metabolites from grape skins and seeds used in wine making could help prevent and treat osteoporosis. A new robotic arm scheduled for demonstration could reveal potential uses on Earth, including in disaster relief. Another experiment will test an implantable, remote-controlled drug delivery system that will utilize a new research facility aboard the orbiting laboratory. Several Girl Scouts’ experiments also will use this new facility to study plants, ants, and brine shrimp in microgravity.
About 12 minutes after launch, Dragon will separate from the Falcon 9 rocket’s second stage and begin a carefully choreographed series of thruster firings to reach the space station. Arrival to the station is planned for Sunday, Aug. 29. Dragon will dock autonomously to the forward-facing port of the station’s Harmony module, with Expedition 65 Flight Engineers Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur of NASA monitoring operations.
The spacecraft is expected to spend about a month attached to the orbiting outpost before it returns to Earth with research and return cargo, splashing down off the coast of Florida.
Full coverage of this mission is as follows (all times Eastern):
Friday, Aug. 27
9:30 to 11 a.m. – Previously credentialed media will have an opportunity to speak one-on-one with scientists in their labs and other subject matter experts at Kennedy’s Space Station Processing Facility. All participants must comply with COVID-19 safety protocols.
12 p.m. – NASA TV will broadcast a prelaunch news conference from Kennedy with representatives from NASA’s International Space Station Program, SpaceX, and the U.S. Space Force Space Launch Delta 45. Due to COVID-19 safety protocols, the news conference will be dial-in only. For the dial-in number and passcode, please contact the Kennedy newsroom at: ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov no later than 11 a.m. Friday, Aug. 27. The public can also ask questions, which may be answered in real-time during the segment, by using #AskNASA on Twitter.
Immediately following the news conference, NASA TV will air a “What’s on Board” video that will introduce the public and media to some of the investigators flying science on this mission.
Saturday, Aug. 28
3:15 a.m. – NASA TV launch coverage begins for the 3:37 a.m. launch.
Sunday, Aug. 29
9:30 a.m. – NASA TV coverage begins for Dragon docking to space station.
11 a.m. – Docking.
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.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), and Subaru of America, Inc., are U.S. National Partners on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Magellan Aerospace is a Canadian National Partner on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
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