With the Return of Three Astronauts from ISS Today, and as a Shout-out to Our Two Canadian Mission 9 to ISS Communities, a Song by Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield (with a little help from David Bowie)

8:40 am ET, December 11, 2015 We started a tradition. At the beginning of each new SSEP flight opportunity, we now post on this blog the NASA Johnson Style video. It’s a way to get thousands of new student microgravity researchers and their communities into the spirit of this program. (Sound familiar Mission 9?) But […]

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NCESSE and Clarke Institute Honored to also Provide Certificates of Accomplishment to Mission 9 Teachers, Local Partner Orgs, and Individuals

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program would not be possible without the passion and unwavering dedication to our children of all the teachers and administrators in the SSEP communities, the Local Partner Organizations that embrace the spirit of community and the importance of education, and the individuals that step to the plate as quiet heroes serving […]

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With SSEP Mission 9 to ISS Flight Experiment Selection Approaching, NCESSE Honored to Provide Student Certificates of Accomplishment to Communities

The goal of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers, and engage entire communities in the process. In this vein, we believe that it is vitally important that the thousands of students participating in SSEP Mission 9 to ISS have a lasting recognition of their involvement in […]

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Election Day on the International Space Station

If International Space Station Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Kjell Lindgren voted from 260 miles above Earth’s surface, well … there’s really no excuse for all the other earthbound Americans not to vote (as of November 3, 2015, 6:34:20 pm ET, that would be 322,089,235 – 2) Click on the image below to go […]

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As Seen from ISS: Hurricane Patricia – “Strongest Hurricane on Record” Approaching Mexico

Space Station Commander Scott Kelly posted this photo on Twitter at 3:37 pm ET today. Hurricane Patricia has become one of the strongest storms ever measured on Earth, comparable to Super Typhoon Haiyan, also photographed from ISS on November 9, 2013. With maximum sustained winds of 190 mph (down from 200 mph earlier in the day), […]

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VIDEO: Time Lapse Earth, A Gift to the Students Engaged in Mission 9 to ISS, and to the Mission 7 and 8 Student Flight Teams Awaiting Launch

  As was the case with prior SSEP missions, given we are in the midst of Mission 9 to ISS, we thought it would be a good time to share this video by Bruce Berry. It is a gift from past astronauts aboard the International Space Station who captured our world from orbit in stunning […]

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New NASA Johnson Video on Plant Growth on ISS

On August 10, 2015, history was made on the International Space Station when astronauts sampled fresh red romaine lettuce, the first food to be grown, harvested and eaten in space. On August 12, 2015, we reported the news here as a blog post titled Astronauts Eat Space-Grown Food for the First Time. Mission 9 student […]

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New Flight Opportunity for School Districts: Announcing Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 10 to the International Space Station, Starting February 2016

Download a PDF of this Press Release Watch Video: A Program Overview After reading this Press Release, carefully read the SSEP Homepage that serves as an Executive Summary for the program To receive email notification of breaking program news, subscribe to the SSEP National Blog  using the Subscribe Box at the bottom of the right column. Student […]

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Take Pride – From the Director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum on the Importance of SSEP for the Future of America’s Space Program

  The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education just updated the National Partners page on the SSEP website, and added a photograph of General John R. “Jack” Dailey, the Director of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, addressing SSEP student researcher delegates at the 2014 SSEP National Conference. The photograph (above) reminded […]

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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.