This page was last updated: May 5, 2012
To date, the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) has announced five flight opportunities for communities to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP):
• the Final Flight of Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134); launched May 16, 2011, carrying 16 SSEP Experiments
• the Final Flight of Shuttle Atlantis, and of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program (STS-135);
launched July 8, 2011, carrying 11 SSEP experiments
• SSEP Mission 1 to the International Space Station; scheduled to launch May 19, 2012, with 15 SSEP experiments
• SSEP Mission 2 to the International Space Station; currently scheduled to launch late September 2012, with likely 11 SSEP experiments
NEW (explore the opportunity at the SSEP Home page)
• SSEP Mission 3 to the International Space Station; currently scheduled to launch Spring 2013
Flight Opportunity Status
SSEP on STS-134 has now been completed, SSEP on STS-135 is complete except for student team reporting at the July 2012 SSEP National Conference in Washington, DC; and Missions 1 and 2 to ISS are in progress.
NCESSE is currently onboarding interested communities for SSEP Mission 3 to the International Space Station (ISS), with communities aboard by September 12, 2012, experiment design starting September 17, 2012, and a ferry flight to ISS for the selected student experiments in Spring 2013 (see details below).
For Each Flight Opportunity—
- a U.S. national Announcement of Opportunity invites communities to participate in this highly leveraged, keystone STEM education program; an Announcement of Opportunity from the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education provides for participation by communities internationally;
- a network of participating communities is established;
- each participating community is provided all launch services to fly a real microgravity research mini-laboratory in low Earth orbit, and a kit for assembly of their mini-lab. Each community conducts a local experiment design competition that gives typically 300 to 1,000 students the ability to design and propose real microgravity experiments to fly in their community’s reserved mini-lab. Each local experiment design competition results in a selected flight experiment.
Each flight opportunity has its own Critical Timeline from announcement of opportunity to flight, and its own unique Mini-laboratory Operation page.
Read about the community experience in: Crown Point, Indiana, and Hartford, Connecticut, both of which participated in Mission 1 to ISS, and SSEP on STS-135. Read about the STS-134 community experience in: Lincolnwood, Illinois; Broward County, Florida; and Zachary, Louisiana.
Summary of the Five SSEP Flight Opportunities to Date—
1) SSEP Mission 3 to the International Space Station NEW
ONBOARDING OF COMMUNITIES IN PROGRESS
COMMUNITIES INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING SHOULD CONTACT US IMMEDIATELY
Announcement of Opportunity: April 29, 2012 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Invited participation: school districts and schools across the U.S. (grades 5-12); 2-year community colleges and 4-year colleges across the U.S.; communities in the U.S. led by informal education or out-of-school organizations (e.g., a museum or science center, a homeschool network, a boy scout troop); and international communities.
Deadline for communities to be aboard: September 12, 2012
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: September 17 – November 9, 2012 (8 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: December 7, 2012
Launch: currently early April 2013, expecting ferry to be a U.S. commercial spacecraft launching from the East Coast
Landing: currently mid-May 2013, ferry spacecraft to be determined
SSEP National Conference for students: early July 2013, likely at Smithsonian’s National Air and
Space Museum, Washington, DC (see, e.g., 2011 SSEP National Conference page)
Jump to SSEP Mission 3 to the International Space Station Flight Opportunity page
2) SSEP Mission 2 to the International Space Station
IN PROGRESS
Number of Participating Communities: 11 (explore the Mission 2 to ISS Community Network)
Scope: 15,120 grade 5-14 students given the opportunity to participate in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: not yet available
Number of experiments selected for flight: likely 11, one for each community (explore the Mission 2 experiments)
Announcement of Opportunity: November 15, 2011 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Invited participation: school districts and schools across the U.S. (grades 5-12); 2-year community colleges and 4-year colleges across the U.S.; communities in the U.S. led by informal education or
out-of-school organizations (e.g., a museum or science center, a homeschool network, a boy scout troop); and international communities.
Deadline for communities to be aboard: February 27, 2012
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: March 5 – April 30, 2012 (8 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: May 31, 2012
Launch: currently late September 2012, expecting ferry to be a U.S. commercial spacecraft launching from the East Coast
Landing: currently mid-November 12, ferry spacecraft to be determined
SSEP National Conference for students: early July 2013, likely at Smithsonian’s National Air and
Space Museum, Washington, DC (see, e.g., 2011 SSEP National Conference page)
Jump to SSEP Mission 2 to the International Space Station Flight Opportunity page
3) SSEP Mission 1 to the International Space Station
IN PROGRESS
Number of Participating Communities: 12 (explore the Mission 1 to ISS Community Network)
Scope: 41,200 grade 5-14 students given the opportunity to participate in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: 779
Number of experiments selected for flight: 15, one for each community, and 3 backup (explore the Mission 1 experiments)
Announcement of Opportunity: July 31, 2011 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Invited participation: school districts and schools across the U.S. (grades 5-12); 2-year community colleges and 4-year colleges across the U.S.; communities in the U.S. led by informal education or
out-of-school organizations (e.g., a museum or science center, a homeschool network, a boy scout troop); and international communities.
Deadline for communities to be aboard: September 15, 2011
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: October 3 – November 28, 2011 (8 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: December 23, 2011
Launch: May 19, 2012 (SpaceX Dragon)
Landing: likely Late June 2012 (Soyuz 29)
SSEP National Conference for students: early July 2012, at Smithsonian’s National Air and
Space Museum, Washington, DC (see, e.g., 2011 SSEP National Conference page)
Jump to SSEP Mission 1 to the International Space Station Flight Opportunity page
4) STS-135 — the final flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis—and the final flight of the U.S. Space Shuttle Program
IN PROGRESS
Number of participating communities: 11 (explore the STS-135 Community Network)
Scope: 11,000 grade 5-12 students given the opportunity to participate in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: 530
Number of experiments selected for flight: 11, one for each community (explore the STS-135 Flight Experiments)
Announcement of Opportunity: December 22, 2010 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Invited participation: school districts and schools across the U.S. and Canada (grades 5-12); 2-year community colleges across the U.S.
Deadline for communities to be aboard: March 18, 2011
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: March 21 – May 9, 2011 (7 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: May 27, 2011 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Launch: July 8, 2011
Landing: July 21, 2011
SSEP National Conference for students: early July 2012, likely at Smithsonian’s National Air
and Space Museum, Washington, DC (see, e.g., 2011 SSEP National Conference page)
Jump to STS-135, the Final Flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis Flight Opportunity page
5) STS-134 — the final flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour
COMPLETED
Number of participating communities: 16 (explore the STS-134 Community Network)
Scope: 19,700 grade 5-14 students provided the opportunity to participate in experiment design
Number of student team proposals received: 447
Number of experiments selected for flight: 16, one for each community (explore the STS-134 Flight Experiments)
Announcement of Opportunity: June 1, 2010
Invited participation: school districts and schools across the U.S. (grades 5-12); 2-year community colleges across the U.S.
Deadline for communities to be aboard: August 6, 2011
Experiment design competition and proposal writing: September 13 – November 11, 2010 (9 Weeks)
Flight experiment selection: November 30, 2010 (see SSEP National Blog Post)
Launch: May 16, 2011
Landing: June 1, 2011
SSEP National Conference for students: July 6-7, 2011, Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC (see SSEP National Conference page)
Jump to STS-134, the Final Flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour Flight Opportunity page
