Students from the Mark West Unified School District were among the lucky teams chosen to send an experiment to the International Space Station. This unique project was part of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP.) The California Space Grant Consortium was proud to have been one of the sponsors who helped make this dream a reality for the 5^th through 8th grade budding scientists.Their experiment, which was selected from more than 1300 proposals, involves studying the feasibility of  Triops as a protein source for astronauts during long flights.  The Mission 5 flight experiments passed the NASA Flight Safety Review and launched on July 13, 2014. Once received by the ISS, the astronauts on board will conduct the experiments and then send them back to Earth this fall.

Our congratulations go out to The Mark West Union School District and the students and teachers from Mark West Charter School and Riebli Elementary School.