The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, and NanoRacks announce Mission 8 to the International Space Station.

This STEM education opportunity immerses grades students in 5th grade and up across a community in an authentic, high-visibility research experience, where student teams design and propose real microgravity experiments to fly in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station.

The program nurtures ownership in learning, critical thinking, problem solving, navigation of an interdisciplinary landscape, and communication skills – all reflective of the Next Generation Science Standards, and reflective of the skills needed by professional scientists and engineers, and the skills desired by employers.

Each participating community will be provided a real microgravity research mini-laboratory capable of supporting a single experiment, and all launch services to fly it to the Space Station in fall 2015, and return it safely to Earth for student harvesting and analysis.

All interested communities are asked to inquire by Nov. 15; schools and districts need to assess interest with their staff and, if appropriate, move forward with an implementation plan. Please click here for more information.

Contact: Dr. Jeff Goldstein, SSEP Program Director; (301) 395-0770; jeffgoldstein@ncesse.org.