This page was last updated: April 18, 2012
Though the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a new STEM education initiative—launched in summer 2010—it already has an extensive heritage delivering real on-orbit research experiences for students in grades 5-14.
Flight Opportunities to Date
To date, there have been five SSEP flight opportunities:
• 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 April 30, 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:
• 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; Missions 1 and 2 to ISS are in progress; and Mission 3 to ISS is onboarding participating communities through September 12, 2012.
Milestones
Through SSEP on STS-134 and SSEP on STS-135, 977 student team proposals were
received, and 27 experiments have flown—one for each community. Read about the Selected Flight Experiments for the final flight of Shuttle Endeavour (STS-134) and Shuttle Atlantis
(STS-135) … and be amazed.
The third SSEP flight opportunity, Mission 1 to ISS, includes 12 participating communities. A total of 779 student team proposals were received, and 15 selected for flight. The Aquarius payload of SSEP Mission 1 experiments is scheduled to fly to ISS in Spring 2012 aboard SpaceX Dragon—the first commercial spacecraft to dock with ISS, heralding in a new era in human spaceflight. Read about the Selected Flight Experiments for Mission 1, and the historic nature of the flight.
The fourth SSEP flight opportunity, Mission 2 to ISS, began on March 5, 2012 with 11 participating communities. The Antares payload of SSEP Mission 2 experiments is slated to fly to ISS in Fall 2012.
Further Reading
To gauge program impact, you are invited to read the In Our Own Words and the SSEP In the News pages at the separate SSEP Community Network Hubsite. At the Hubsite, you can also read about the participating communities and the experiments that were selected for flight.
