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Crestwood Intermediate students’ beet germination experiment flies to the International Space Station
Summary
Fifth‑grade students from Crestwood Intermediate designed a beet seed germination experiment selected by the Student Spaceflight Experiments program and sent to the International Space Station; students compared flown seeds to ground controls at their school.
A team of fifth‑grade students from Crestwood Intermediate School designed an experiment on beet seed germination in microgravity that was selected for flight to the International Space Station, the Chesapeake School Board heard May 20.
Adrienne Sawyer, Chesapeake’s elementary science supervisor, and Tiffany Nichols, elementary science coordinator, presented the project and introduced the students and teachers involved. The student team—Jamieson Beltane, Caleb Crook Watts, Lisonbee Hudgens, Leila Jeter and Kelby Johnson—designed the experiment as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments program. Students and teachers described packing two mini‑labs: one flown to the ISS and a ground control replicated on Earth to compare results.
"Their project, designed to investigate whether beet seeds can grow in microgravity, was selected to be conducted aboard the International Space Station," Sawyer said during the presentation. Students performed parallel ground experiments at Crestwood and later compared returned flown samples with the ground control using microscopes and observations.
Why it matters: The project offered students hands‑on experience in experimental design, proposal development and data analysis with an international research partner; the school emphasized the educational value of comparing flown and ground results and learning from outcomes whether seeds germinated or not.
Student perspective and outcomes Students described the opportunity to pack the mini‑lab and run the ground control. One student noted that even if the seeds did not germinate, the project “was a success because you really can't fail in science because you always learn what not to do and what to do next time.” Teachers and school leaders accompanied the students to the board meeting and several family members were present for the recognition.
Next steps Staff and students will continue to analyze the returned samples at Crestwood and share findings with the school community as part of classroom instruction and district science outreach.
