Texarkana science students selected to send project to International Space Station

An undated photo provided by NASA shows the International Space Station in orbit. (NASA via AP)
An undated photo provided by NASA shows the International Space Station in orbit. (NASA via AP)

TEXARKANA, Texas -- A microgravity experiment developed by a group of sixth graders at the Texarkana Independent School District is heading to the International Space Station in 2022, following a rigorous selection process through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.

This fall, all fifth-grade students at Martha and Josh Morriss Mathematics & Engineering Elementary School, and all sixth, seventh and eighth-grade Texas Middle School students enrolled in Science Honors spent six weeks learning about microgravity experimental design and developed more than 140 proposals that competed for inclusion in the SSEP Mission 16 to the International Space Station.

The top three projects from TISD were then submitted to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education for consideration by the SSEP Mission 16 Step 2 Review Board, and on Thursday, the program announced the final selections.

"The Effects of Space Travel and Microgravity on Hybrid Brine Shrimp Eggs," an experiment created by TISD sixth graders Tiffany Bowen, Jaeden Rios and Rivers Glass, is now bound for the International Space Station in the Spring/Summer of 2022.

"We are extremely proud of all our student researchers in TISD, as they have shown a tremendous amount of commitment and dedication during the last few weeks," said Todd Marshall, Director TISD CTE and STEM Education, in a news release. "We are thrilled to have these sixth graders representing our district at the national and global level."

TISD is one of 23 participating communities in three countries (USA, Canada, and Ukraine) that are participating in this year's SSEP program. The program gives students the ability to design and propose real microgravity experiments that are proposed to be conducted aboard the International Space Station.

Following this week's announcement, and in accordance with SSEP guidelines, the group of TISD students will continue to refine and optimize their experiment's design so that it can be cleared for the mission.

The SSEP is a program of the NCESSE in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It 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.

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