The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education is proud to be partnering with the organizations listed below on the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. Designated SSEP National Partners, these organizations provide unique assets and capabilities that enhance the program on a national level.
First, A Word About Our Other SSEP Partners:
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is overseen by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE). in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. SSEP is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. NCESSE, the Clarke Institute, and NanoRacks are therefore designated SSEP Strategic Partners. To read about the programmatic roles and responsibilities of the SSEP Strategic Partners, visit the Team page.
Partnership is truly a hallmark of SSEP. Nearly 300 other organizations support SSEP at the local level, including: school districts, private schools, NASA Space Grant lead institutions and other universities, corporate foundations, businesses, community foundations, and local research institutions. These organizations are designated the SSEP Local Partners. To explore the Local Partners, visit the Communities & Local Partners page at the SSEP Community Network Hubsite.
SSEP National Partners
Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, in Washington, DC – the most visited museum on planet Earth – is host to the annual SSEP National Conference. The conference provides student teams from across the SSEP community network the opportunity to present on their experiment designs, and those teams that flew experiments can report results. The objective is to immerse students in the experience of a real science conference – their conference. The conference is typically held the first week of July so that attendees can take part in the 4th of July celebration in the nation’s capital. The conference takes place in the Museum’s Moving Beyond Earth gallery, and Museum research and curatorial staff have provided featured conference addresses. For more information on the National Conference, including agendas and presentation descriptions, and video clip archives of the student team presentations, visit the Annual SSEP National Conference page.
The National Air and Space Museum is also a host site for meetings of the SSEP Step 2 Review Board, where the finalist flight experiment proposals from each community are reviewed, and the flight experiments are selected. The Review Board includes Museum staff. To date, the Museum has hosted Step 2 Review Boards for SSEP Mission 1 to ISS, Mission 2 to ISS, and Mission 3 to ISS.
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS)
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) is tasked with managing the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory (NL) in accordance with a Cooperative Agreement with NASA. In June 2012, the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education and CASIS entered into a Memorandum of Agreement to mutually leverage, through education and public efforts such as SSEP, understanding of ISS as a national and unparalleled platform for innovation, which can benefit all humankind and inspire a new generation to look to the stars. As part of this Agreement, CASIS is helping to underwrite communities engaged in Mission 3 and Mission 4 to ISS. To date, CASIS support has helped 9 of 17 communities participate in Mission 3 to ISS, reflecting a projected 4,175 students formally immersed in experiment design and proposal writing across 9 states (CA, HI, KS, MA, MI, NJ, NY, NC, TX), and 785 expected flight experiment proposals.
NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium
The NASA Nebraska Space Grant Consortium partners with NCESSE on the development and delivery of SSEP Community Network Meetings, which are held for SSEP delegations attending the launch in Florida. Such meetings have been held at the Florida Institute of Technology in concert with the launches of STS-134, in May 2011, and STS-135, in July 2011. Nearly 300 SSEP students, teachers, parents, and stakeholders attended each of these launches. Consortium Associate Director Michaela Lucas delivered featured presentations on the National Space Grant Network at the meetings.
Carnegie Institution of Washington / Carnegie Academy for Science Education
The Carnegie Institution of Washington (CIW) is a host site for meetings of the SSEP Step 2 Review Board, where the finalist flight experiment proposals from each community are reviewed, and the flight experiments are selected. The Review Board includes CIW staff. To date, CIW has hosted Step 2 Review Boards for SSEP on STS-134 and SSEP on STS-135.
