Three… two… one… blast off!

That’s what Midland’s Technical College students will be hearing as they watch their project blast into space at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

According to a release, Midlands Tech has been the first and only school in the state to be chosen to participate in the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program. The college is one of 37 chosen to participate in the program’s Mission 18.

This mission will send the students’ research to the International Space Station (ISS). Once up in space, astronauts will operate the experiment over approximately six weeks, according to the release.

“The experiment will then return to Earth, where the team will perform their analysis and compare the results to their control experiment that stayed on Earth,” the release reads. “A few months later, the MTC team will have the opportunity to present their project, research, and findings at a conference typically held at the The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.”

The release states that four students, a lab technician and a faculty advisor will research how microgravity affects the production of calcium oxalate crystals in edible greens. 

The reason that this study is important to long-duration space flight is because it is a possible source of nutrition that can be grown in space. Additionally, the release said that calcium oxalate is produced in plants like spinach; it can also lead to the formation of kidney stones which form more easily in the presence of microgravity.

According to the release, winners of this program were narrowed down to 42 students and 13 teams. These students represent all eight schools of study.

Those participating from Midlands Tech include:

- Craig Elliot – Associate in Arts in Psychology 

- Robert Ferguson – Associate in Science in Biology 

- Emmi Rosario – Bioengineering 2+2 

- Will Turner – Associate in Arts in Psychology 

- Kayioko Jenkins-Fisher – Science Lab Technician, Team Technical Support 

- Jordi Fernandez – Faculty Advisor, Biology

The release states that this program is part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is a partnership with Nanoracks LLC, which works with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.