The Northern Region is holding a contest to select an experiment for the shuttle

Contact: Laurie Hogan (336) 370-8307
Created: 10/27/2010 9:28:30 AM

A contest with a very unique reward is underway in the Northern Region of Guilford County Schools (GCS). Teams of students in the region's five middle schools are developing science experiment proposals to compete for a spot onboard Space Shuttle Endeavour in February.

The district already has a spot reserved for one experiment from Aycock Middle, Brown Summit Middle, Mendenhall Middle, Northeast Middle or Northern Middle to be a part of STS-134. Teams of students are working on about 40 proposals for the Northern Region's contest. A local committee will judge the entries and select three to be sent to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) for final review. One experiment will be selected for the space mission.

The Northern Region is participating in the student spaceflight experiment program thanks to generous donations from North Carolina SpaceGrant, The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, The Ellison Family Foundation, SAMET Corporation and school PTAs. The program is organized by NCSSE and NanoRacks LLC. Since NanoRacks has a Space Act Agreement with NASA, experiments by students and professional researchers will fly side-by-side on Endeavour in a mini-laboratory about the size of a brick. The professional research projects will include a significant cancer experiment. The mini-laboratory will be one of many items the astronauts tend to during the mission.

In their experiments, students will study what will happen to some chemical, physical or biological phenomenon if gravity is turned off for 10 days. Seed and plant studies, protein crystal growth, fluid diffusion, food products, aquatic life, bacteria and cell biology have been popular space shuttle research projects in the past.

The students' experiments must follow strict guidelines in order to be selected for the spaceflight. They must be designed to fit in a small test tube and follow materials guidelines so they are safe for the astronauts. While the selected experiment is onboard, students will conduct an identical experiment here on Earth to compare it to the effects of zero-gravity in space.

"This is an exciting program that can help us get students more interested in learning about science, math and technology," said John Modest, Northern Region superintendent. "Our students have the chance to step into the shoes of a professional researcher, collaborate in a team and develop an experiment that could possibly fly in space. The shuttle has space for only a limited number of experiments, so it will be a very special opportunity for the students selected."

Schools will submit their proposals to the Northern Region office in a couple of weeks, and by the end of November one of the experiments will be selected for the spaceflight. At this time, STS-134 is the final approved space shuttle mission although Congress has approved a bill funding one more spaceflight. Space Shuttle Endeavour is scheduled for liftoff on Feb. 27, 2011 to take a 10-day mission to the International Space Station.