Author Archive | Jeff Goldstein

The Mini-Laboratory used for STS-135 is the same as used for STS-134—the Materials Dispersion Apparatus (MDA). However, there was to be one essential operational difference. For STS-135 student teams were to be able to add a third experiment sample (a fluid and/or solid) before the shuttle leaves orbit. This would have provided a team the […]

NCESSE, in concert with ITA and NanoRacks, has very carefully defined the milestones and specifications for the harvesting of experiment samples and their return to your SSEP Student Team. The detailed Critical Timeline for Harvesting flows directly from the detailed Critical Timeline for Sample Submission on the STS-134 Submission of Experiment Samples for Flight page. […]

To SSEP Student Flight Experiment Teams from Latest Shuttle News at nasa.gov — Additional Day Added to STS-134 Mission Wed, 13 Apr 2011 11:50:49 AM EDT Shuttle managers have officially added an additional day to space shuttle Endeavour’s STS-134 mission making it a 15-day flight. With launch targeted on April 29, landing at Kennedy’s Space Shuttle […]

The launch slip of STS-134 from April 19 to April 29 has prompted a significant re-examination of travel planning for the 300 SSEP students, teachers, administrators, and family members that were heading to Kennedy Space Center for the launch. The key issue is that rescheduling of travel for 3 communities is not an option either […]

The STS-135 Flight Experiment FAQ is now fully operational for all students and teachers engaged in the SSEP opportunity on STS-135. It is accessed through the “Resources” link in the navigation banner at the top of any SSEP web page. As a starting point for the new FAQ, we have culled all relevant questions from […]

Based on the STS-134 launch slip to April 29, 2011, NCESSE has formally revised the milestone dates for student team submission of flight samples (fluids and solids) for their SSEP experiments. All SSEP Community Program Directors, Teacher Facilitators, and Student Team members are urged to review changes on the following two SSEP pages: STS-134 Submission […]

Here are the links to the official NASA notifications: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/main/ http://www.nasa.gov/missions/highlights/schedule.html Note that the new launch time is 3:47 pm EDT on April 29.

I am sorry to have to report that we have just received word from NanoRacks that the STS-134 launch has officially slipped to April 29. We will need to revise the Critical Timeline on the Submission of Experiment Samples page, and we will need to revise the Launch Plans page. We will not do this […]

As of 8:30 am today, NCESSE had not received any word as to whether the launch of STS-134 will be postponed. However, the Daily Beast is reporting that the launch of STS-134 may be put off until April 29. Until there is official word from NASA, we have no choice but to assume the launch […]

3/25/11, 4:00 PM ET: WE WERE JUST ALERTED BY NASA AT KSC THAT THEY NOW STRONGLY ADVISE US TO GET TO KARS PARK NO LATER THAN 3:00 PM ON APRIL 19 FOR THE LAUNCH. NASA IS VERY CONCERNED THAT WE MIGHT BE STUCK IN HEAVY TRAFFIC EVEN 3 HOURS BEFORE LAUNCH. WE ARE THEREFORE CHANGING KARS […]