Community Profiles and Local Partners: SSEP Mission 15 to ISS


Mission 15 is Community’s First SSEP Flight Opportunity: Yellow
Mission 15 is Community’s at Least Second SSEP Flight Opportunity: Green
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SSEP Mission 15 to ISS

Experiment Design Competition and Selection of Flight Experiments: Fall 2020
Flight to ISS: projected launch Spring/Summer 2021

 

Note: the Covid-19 pandemic significantly limited the number of communities participating in Mission 15 to ISS. 

The 5 communities profiled below are providing the opportunity for thousands of grade 5-12 students to design and propose real microgravity experiments for flight aboard the International Space Station (ISS) as part of SSEP Mission 15 to ISS – the 17th SSEP flight opportunity.

Each community conducts a local Flight Experiment Design Competition with student teams designing microgravity experiments across multiple disciplines. Each team submits a formal research proposal, vying for an experiment slot reserved just for their community in a real research mini-laboratory scheduled to fly on the International Space Station. The Mission 15 to ISS community leadership project that across the network of 5 communities a minimum of 2,000 students will be fully engaged in experiment design, and a minimum of 500 flight experiment proposals from student teams will be received.

Thousands more grade preK-12 students are being given the opportunity to participate in SSEP Mission 15 to ISS community-wide programming, which includes the design of Mission Patches to fly aboard ISS. Through community engagement activities, together with microgravity experiment design, a total of  43 schools in 4 States are taking part in Mission 15 to ISS. Mission 15 is the eighth SSEP Mission for Hillsborough County, Florida; the seventh mission for Burleson, Texas; the fourth mission for Moreno Valley, California, and iForward – Grantsburg, Wisconsin; and the second mission for Bandera, TX.

More generally, Mission 15 to ISS is made possible through the involvement of 7 Local Partner institutions, including school districts, corporate foundations, universities, community foundations, and companies, and which are providing both underwriting and material and human resources.

Visit the SSEP In the News page and the In Our Own Words page to gain an understanding of program impact over all SSEP missions conducted to date.

Quickly Scroll to Individual Communities

  1. Moreno Valley, California
  2. Hillsborough County, Florida
  3. Bandera, Texas
  4. Burleson, Texas
  5. iForward-Grantsburg, Wisconsin

 

1. Moreno Valley, California

Noteworthy: this is the fourth SSEP flight for Moreno Valley

Program Scope
Number of participating schools: 4; experiment design and mission patches: Valley View High School; mission patches only: Canyon Springs High School, Mountain View Middle School, Palm Middle School

Experiment Design Competition

Expected Minimum Number of Students Fully Engaged in Experiment Design: 200 (grades 9-12)
Expected Minimum Number of Student Team Proposals: 50

SSEP Community-wide Engagement Program

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition(s): 2 competitions; (grades 6-8), (grades 9-12)

Partner Institutions
Moreno Valley Unified School District

SSEP Mission Participation
Mission 15 to ISS

Mission 14 to ISS
(see Mission 14 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 13 to ISS
(see Mission 13 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 12 to ISS
(see Mission 12 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

SSEP Community Program Director
Emmie Glancy
eglancy@mvusd.net

 

2. Hillsborough County, Florida

Noteworthy: this is the eighth SSEP flight for Hillsborough County

Program Scope
Number of participating schools: 18; experiment design and mission patches: Burnett Middle School, Memorial Middle School, Randall Middle School, Sheehy Elementary School, Walker Middle School; mission patches only: Alexander Elementary School, Chiles Elementary School, Colson Elementary School, Deer Park Elementary School, FishHawk Creek Elementary School, Heritage Elementary School, Mendenhall Elementary School, Morgan Woods Elementary School, Pinecrest Elementary School, Schmidt Elementary School, Summerfield Elementary School, Tinker K-8 School, Yates Elementary School

Experiment Design Competition

Expected Minimum Number of Students Fully Engaged in Experiment Design: 200 (grades 5-8)
Expected Minimum Number of Student Team Proposals: 50

SSEP Community-wide Engagement Program

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition(s): 2 competitions; (grades K-5), (grades 6-8)

Partner Institutions
Hillsborough County Public Schools

Tampa Bay STEM Network
Department of Defense

SSEP Mission Participation
Mission 15

Mission 14
(see Mission 14 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 13 to ISS
(see Mission 13 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 12 to ISS
(see Mission 12 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 11 to ISS
(see Mission 11 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 9 to ISS
(see Mission 9 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 7 to ISS
(see Mission 7 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 5 to ISS
(see Mission 5 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

SSEP Community Program Director
Mary Vaughn
mary.vaughn@sdhc.k12.fl.us

 

3. Bandera, Texas

Noteworthy: this is the second SSEP flight for Bandera

Program Scope
Number of participating schools: 3; experiment design and mission patches: Bandera Middle School; mission patches only: Hill Country Elementary School, Alkek Elementary School

Experiment Design Competition

Expected Minimum Number of Students Fully Engaged in Experiment Design: 300 (grades 6-8)
Expected Minimum Number of Student Team Proposals: 100

SSEP Community-wide Engagement Program

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition(s): 2 competitions; (grade 5), (grades 6-8)

Partner Institutions
Bandera Independent School District
Bandera Middle School

SSEP Mission Participation
Mission 15

Mission 14
(see Mission 14 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

SSEP Community Program Co-Directors
Patrick Sizemore
psizemore@banderaisd2.net

Ray Blanco
rblanco@banderaisd2.net

 

4. Burleson, Texas

Noteworthy: this is the seventh SSEP flight for Burleson

Program Scope
Number of participating schools: 16; experiment design and mission patches: Kerr Middle School; experiment design only: Hughes Middle School, REALM Middle School, STEAM Middle School; mission patches only: Burleson Centennial High School, Burleson High School, Academy at Nola Dunn, Academy of Leadership at Mound, Bransom Elementary School, Brock Elementary School, Clinkscale Elementary School, Frazier Elementary School, Hajak Elementary School, Norwood Elementary School, STEAM at Stribling, Taylor Elementary School

Experiment Design Competition

Expected Minimum Number of Students Fully Engaged in Experiment Design: 1,104 (grades 7-8)
Expected Minimum Number of Student Team Proposals: 210

SSEP Community-wide Engagement Program

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition(s): 2 competitions; (grades 6-8, SSEP participants), (grades K-12, non-SSEP participants)

Partner Institutions
Burleson Independent School District

SSEP Mission Participation
Mission 15

Mission 14
(see Mission 14 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 13 to ISS
(see Mission 13 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 12 to ISS
(see Mission 12 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 11 to ISS
(see Mission 11 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 9 to ISS
(see Mission 9 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 7 to ISS
(see Mission 7 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

SSEP Community Program Co-Directors
Dr. Leslie K. Bender Jutzi
lbenderjutzi@bisdmail.net

Stacy Hughes
shughes@bisdmail.net

 

5. iForward-Grantsburg, Wisconsin

Noteworthy: this is the fourth SSEP flight for iForward-Grantsburg

Program Scope
Number of participating schools: 2; experiment design and mission patches: iForward Online Middle School, iForward Online High School

Experiment Design Competition

Expected Minimum Number of Students Fully Engaged in Experiment Design: 300 (grades 6-12)
Expected Minimum Number of Student Team Proposals: 50

SSEP Community-wide Engagement Program

Mission Patch Art and Design Competition(s): 2 competitions; (grades K-7), (grades 8-12)

Partner Institutions
Grantsburg School District

SSEP Mission Participation
Mission 15

Mission 14
(see Mission 14 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 13 to ISS
(see Mission 13 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

Mission 12 to ISS
(see Mission 12 community profile, flight and honorable mention experiments, and flight mission patches)

SSEP Community Program Co-Directors
Constance Quade
constance.quade@iforwardwisconsin.com

Erik Benson
erik.benson@iforwardwisconsin.com

 

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.