Submitted report
NASA launched an Antares rocket Jan. 9 on a resupply mission to the International Space Station, and a little piece of Hays County went with it.
The rocket included an experiment from Hays CISD STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) students. The experiment will test if and how L.acidophilus bacteria grows in micro-gravity. L. acidophilus is a good bacteria humans need to aid in digestion.
The study goal will help scientists learn more about how the bacteria grows in micro-gravity in anticipation of the day humans inhabit space.
At top: An Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket is seen as it launches from Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, Wallops Island, VA. Antares is carrying the Cygnus spacecraft on a cargo resupply mission to the International Space Station. Cygnus is carrying science experiments, including one from STEM students at Hays CISD, along with crew provisions, spare parts and other hardware to the space station. (Photo courtesy of NASA) |
Three hundred Saturn V program STEM students at Pfluger and Carpenter Hill Elementary Schools, as well as gifted and talented students at Wallace and Dahlstrom Middle Schools took part in a Student Spaceflights Experiments Program (SSEP) competition last year to develop an experiment to take to the International Space Station.
When the incredible battery of competing experiments was finished, four then-Pfluger Elementary 5th grade students – Avery Bentz, Emily Mae Vladyka, Caden Stewart, and Emma Hodges – emerged as the district’s winning team.
Their Saturn V teacher at Pfluger was Lavada Ferguson, who now teaches at Carpenter Hill. Vladyka and Hodges were in Virginia to watch as the rocket began its journey into space.
Bentz and Vladyka both attend Barton Middle School now. Stewart and Hodges attend Chapa Middle School.
