Last update to this page: April 18, 2012, 12:00 pm EDT
Payload Ferry Flights and ISS Crew Data
Ferry Vehicle to ISS: expect ferry to be a U.S. commercial spacecraft, either SpaceX Dragon or Orbital Sciences Cygnus
Launch Date: Currently late September 2012 (see Flight Schedule at nasa.gov)
Crew: none
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida if launched on SpaceX Falcon rocket with Dragon spacecraft; Wallops Island, Virginia, if launched on Orbital Sciences Antares rocket with Cygnus spacecraft
Docking at ISS: 1 to 4 days after launch
Ferry Vehicle for Return to Earth: currently Soyuz (TMA-06M) 31S
Crew: Malenchenko, Williams, Hoshide
Undocking/Landing Date: November 12, 2012 (see Flight Schedule at nasa.gov)
Landing Site: Kazakhstan
Payload Duration on ISS: 1.5 months
Notable: visit the NASA ISS website for a comprehensive overview of ISS construction, on-orbit research, operations, crews, and multimedia galleries; read about the SpaceX Falcon rocket and Dragon spacecraft at nasa.gov; read about the Orbital Sciences Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rocket; read about the Soyuz TMA vehicle at nasa.gov
ISS Crew for SSEP Mission 2 Payload Operations: Expedition 33
Station Commander Sunita Williams (USA); Flight Engineers Yuri Malenchenko (Russia), Akihiko Hoshide (Japan), Kevin Ford (USA), Oleg Novitskiy (Russia), Evgeny Tarelkin (Russia)
SSEP Mission 2 to ISS: Payload and Program Data
Payload Designation: SSEP4 – Antares (named for Apollo 14 Lunar Module)
Number of Student Experiments: to be determined
Payload: Suite of Fluids Mixing Enclosure (FMA) Mini-laboratories
Stowage: NanoRacks Express Rack on ISS
History:
The fourth SSEP flight opportunity—for SSEP Mission 2 to the International Space Station—was announced by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) on November 16, 2011, with an accompanying Video Clip by Center Director, Dr. Jeff Goldstein.
As a result, 11 communities across the U.S. joined Mission 2 to ISS, providing 41,200 grade 5-14 students, across 92 schools, the opportunity to design and propose real experiments to fly aboard ISS. Student teams submitted xx proposals (proposal selection May 31, 2012) from which xx were selected to fly to ISS—one for each community. Visit the SSEP Community Network Hubsite for descriptions of the selected experiments (available early June 2012), profiles of the participating communities, the SSEP In the News page, and thoughts on program impact from students, teachers, and administrators on the In Our Own Words page.
Current Status:
As of April 18, 2012: The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) is currently working with Mission 2 communities in the midst of their experiment design competition. Flight experiments will be selected by the end of May 2012.
A List of Important SSEP Mission 2 to ISS Subpages:
SSEP Mission 2 to ISS: Critical Timeline
SSEP Mission 2 to ISS: Mini-Laboratory Operation
SSEP Mission 2 to ISS: Mission Patch Art and Design Competition
