{"id":160064,"date":"2024-11-11T14:30:57","date_gmt":"2024-11-11T21:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=160064"},"modified":"2024-11-13T09:32:56","modified_gmt":"2024-11-13T16:32:56","slug":"from-campus-to-space-uccs-students-launch-experiment-to-the-iss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/?p=160064","title":{"rendered":"From Campus to Space: UCCS students launch experiment to the ISS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Luke Davis, Noah Grebe, and Blake MacDonald stand with Lynnane George and McKenna Lovejoy
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In a significant milestone for UCCS, Aerospace Engineering student Luke Davis, Mechanical Engineering student Noah Grebe, and Biology student Blake MacDonald witnessed their groundbreaking experiment embark on a journey to space. Titled “Calcium Sulfate Crystal Growth in Microgravity,” their project was launched from NASA\u2019s Kennedy Space Center at 9:29 p.m. on November 4.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experiment was part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) which is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE). It flew on SpaceX’s Commercial Resupply Service (CRS-31) mission, which took off aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from the historic Launch Complex 39A. The following morning, it docked with the International Space Station (ISS) at 9:52 AM over Southeast Russia, where it will remain in orbit for 4 to 6 weeks. During this time, the unique microgravity conditions will allow the team to gather insights into crystal growth that are unattainable on Earth. After its return, the results will be compared to a control experiment conducted at UCCS, potentially leading to new discoveries in the field of crystallography.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After the launch of the Falcon 9 rocket, the team also witnessed the stage 1 rocket landing nearby. Team lead Luke Davis simply had this to say about the experience, \u201cThat was pretty neat, folks!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to George, the ISS launch is the first time UCCS has launched a satellite into orbit in over 20 years and a first for PPSC. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is a unique once-in-a-lifetime experience for the students to be able to say, and put on their resumes, that they actually launched their own experiment into space!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lovejoy added, \u201cThis incredible opportunity for our students to send their experiment to the International Space Station is a testament to the power of collaboration between UCCS and PPSC. Working together, we\u2019re inspiring the next generation to push the boundaries of space research and innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This extraordinary project was made possible through the guidance and expertise of UCCS Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Associate Teaching Professor Lynnane George and Pikes Peak State College Engineering Faculty and Engineering Department Chair McKenna Lovejoy. Their dedication and support have been instrumental in transforming this ambitious Idea into reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

MacDonald, who began working on the project while a student at Pikes Peak State College, had this to say about the experience: \u201cWow! The planning, preparation, and dedication going up in flames the best way possible.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student Noah Grebe added, \u201cThere\u2019s no better experience that seeing that in person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you are interested in more information, please contact Lynnane George at lgeorge2@uccs.edu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About SSEP<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Student Space Flight Experiments Program [or just \u201cSSEP\u201d] is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education Internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with Nanoracks, LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In a significant milestone for UCCS, Aerospace Engineering student Luke Davis, Mechanical Engineering student Noah Grebe, and Biology student Blake MacDonald witnessed their groundbreaking experiment embark on a journey to space. (More)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":160066,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,48],"tags":[114,332,60],"class_list":["post-160064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-science-and-tech","tag-college-of-engineering-and-applied-science","tag-more-news","tag-student-success"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/IMG_5116.jpeg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1mBpJ-FDG","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=160064"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":160134,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160064\/revisions\/160134"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/160066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=160064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=160064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/communique.uccs.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=160064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}