TEXARKANA, Texas -- A microgravity experiment developed by a group of Texarkana Independent School District students is heading to the International Space Station in late spring following a rigorous selection process through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program.
"Do Tardigrades Develop Properly in Microgravity?" was created by Texas Middle School seventh-graders Nirav Neupane, Kevontae Espada and Max Gaylor. The were supervised by Sarah Gustafson.
"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 LaKesha Taylor, director of CTE and STEM education at TISD. "We are thrilled to have our seventh-graders represent our district at the national and global level."
In the fall, all fifth-grade students at Martha and Josh Morriss Mathematics & Engineering Elementary School and all Texas Middle School students enrolled in Science Honors spent six weeks learning about microgravity experimental design. They developed more than 140 proposals that competed for inclusion in the SSEP Mission 17 to the International Space Station.
TISD then submitted the top three projects to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education for consideration by a mission review board. Along with the tardigrades experiment, the district submitted projects from two fifth-grade teams supervised by Dr. Jordan Guillory.
Sam McGinnis, Sheena Lee and Temityo Ogunkolade designed "Alum Crystals in Microgravity." Isabella Adriana Goodman-Baston, Noah Womack, M.J. Brubaker, Cooper Reardon and Nathan Stokes proposed "How Does Microgravity Affect the Growth of Wakame Algae?"
This will be the second consecutive year a TISD school has been selected to send a project to the ISS. Last month, a project by another group of Texas Middle School students was launched into space as a part of Mission 16. The project is "The Effects of Space Travel and Microgravity on Hybrid Brine Shrimp Eggs."
Texarkana ISD is one of 37 communities in the U.S., Canada and Ukraine participating in the SSEP. TISD students will continue to refine and optimize their experiment's design to ensure it is mission ready.