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Hillsborough students selected for International Space Station experiment; launch delayed
Summary
Students from Randall Middle School were honored for a student experiment chosen for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program; the district said the Dream Chaser Orb 1 launch is on indefinite delay and the team is scheduled to present at the SSEP conference in July.
Doctor Catherine White, supervisor of K–12 STEM for Hillsborough County Public Schools, and Doctor Lori Bradner, lead facilitator at Randall Middle School, presented district recognition for the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program during the April 15 meeting.
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) gives students in grades 5–8 the opportunity to send small experiments and mission patches to the International Space Station. Doctor White said Hillsborough is in its twelfth consecutive year of launching district projects to the ISS and highlighted the district’s mission patch competition.
Doctor Lori Bradner introduced the Randall Middle School team whose experiment — mung beans in microgravity — was selected to fly as part of SSEP Mission 19. The student investigators named in the presentation were Grayson Jones (sixth grade), Sravan Karpic (sixth grade) and Platon Drastuff (seventh grade). Bradner said two mission patches from district students will also fly and will return with embossed certificates.
Bradner cautioned that the Dream Chaser Orb 1 mission is on an indefinite delay. “As with all things NASA, we are in a holding pattern,” she said. “We are still chasing the dream, and we are waiting to find out when they will actually launch.” She added the team is scheduled to present at the national SSEP conference on July 2 at the Kennedy Space Center.
The district noted the SSEP program is supported by the Suncoast Credit Union Foundation and thanked teachers, STEM directors and school administrators who supported the student teams.
Students and staff posed for photographs after the presentation; the board did not take formal action on the recognition item.
