NCESSE has been informed that the MDA mini-Laboratory containing the SSEP experiments is scheduled to be activated aboard Endeavour early Tuesday morning, May 17. The first slide of the MDA blocks will take place at 3:45 am EDT. The second slide of the blocks, which will activate all Type 2-Prime experiment slots, will take place […]
Author Archive | Jeff Goldstein
Endeavour Blasts off with the Aspirations of Thousands of Student Scientists Aboard
Space Shuttle Endeavour is now in orbit on her final mission. Aboard her are 16 experiments designed by (grade 5-13) student scientists from 16 communities across America. Yet these experiments reflect only some of the students that took part in the first flight opportunity for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Thousands of students—in dozens […]
Get Ready NOW for Fall 2011: Routine SSEP Operations Begin on the International Space Station
The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, in partnership with NanoRacks, LLC, are proud to provide advanced word that starting in Fall 2011, the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program moves into Phase 2 with routine operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS)—America’s National Laboratory on the edge of space, and one of the most […]
10:30 am EDT May 6, 2011: Important STS-134 Launch Update – NET May 16
NCESSE was informed by NanoRacks and ITA this morning that NASA has revised the launch of STS-134 to No Earlier Than (NET) May 16, which is now a more than 2 week delay relative to the original April 29 launch date. The timeline for payload prep and handover to NASA must now drive against a […]
8:00 pm May 5, 2011: STS-134 Launch
NCESSE received word from NanoRacks/ITA late this afternoon that today’s meeting at NASA did not establish a definitive launch date, and that the launch is now defined as No Earlier Than (NET) May 12, which is a change from this morning’s No Earlier Than May 10. Our payload operations must therefore drive against a May […]
Important Information for STS-135 Finalist Proposals: Read this Post Before Submitting to NCESSE
Three finalist proposals from each of the communities participating in SSEP on STS-135 are due to NCESSE NO LATER THAN 10:00 PM EDT MAY 13, 2011. As can be seen from the Critical Timeline, milestones for: finalist proposal submission, to selection of flight experiments, to winning team submissions of samples for the Fluid/Sample Compatibility Test, […]
Time Critical Update: SSEP on STS-134 National Conference in Washington, DC, July 6 and 7, 2011
We have now put up a new STS-134 National Conference in Washington, DC page at this website. It can always be accessed through the Current Flight Opportunities button in the navigation banner at the top of any page on this site. Please review the page, which includes an overview of the conference, conference opportunities and […]
10:30 am EDT May 5, 2011: Important STS-134 Launch Update
NCESSE was informed by NanoRacks and ITA this morning that NASA has scheduled a meeting at 12:00 pm EDT today to assess launch status for STS-134. We expect to hear an update today. If new information indicates a launch no earlier than May 13, then this will greatly impact the current shipping timeline for the […]
Important Guidance for New Sample Submissions in Support of a No-Earlier-Than May 10 Launch
To all student experiment teams, here is the revised plan for re-loading the mini-lab, and its turnover to NASA, based on a No-Earlier-Than (NET) May 10 launch: New samples must arrive no later than Saturday morning, May 7 (FedEx arrival by 10:30 am is fine) Note: you might consider arrival of your samples by Friday […]
Impact on SSEP Experiments and Submission of New Samples, Due to NASA Announcement of New No-Earlier-Than May 10 Launch
We provided a schedule for 9 student teams to re-submit fresh experiment samples based on a no-earlier-than May 8 launch date in a SSEP National Blog Post dated May 1, 2011. It required arrival of samples at the payload processing lab no later than Thursday morning, May 5. In light of NASA’s announcement yesterday (May […]