TMS 7th Graders Have Microgravity Experiment Headed to the International Space Station

Pictured: Rhett Simpson, Sam McGinnis, James Williams, and Logan Morris
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Texarkana Independent School District (TISD) is excited to share a microgravity experiment developed by a group of Texarkana ISD seventh graders is heading to the International Space Station in the summer/fall of 2025, following a rigorous selection process through the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP).

This fall, all fifth-grade students at Martha and Josh Morriss Mathematics & Engineering Elementary School and all sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade Texas Middle School students enrolled in Science Honors spent six weeks learning about microgravity experimental design. Students developed more than 130 proposals that competed for inclusion in the SSEP Mission 19 to the International Space Station. TISD then submitted the top three projects to the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) for consideration by the SSEP Mission 19 Step 2 Review Board.

“Will Mold Grow in Microgravity?” the title of the experiment created by TISD seventh graders Rhett Simpson, Sam McGinnis, James Williams, and Logan Morris, supervised by Mrs. Melissa Smithson, is now bound for the International Space Station in summer/fall 2025.

“We’re proud to have another group of TISD students selected for this unique opportunity through a highly competitive process. This achievement reflects our district’s commitment to innovate, lead, and excel. The hard work and success of the team inspires all students to aim high and explore endless possibilities,” said Dr. Doug Brubaker, Superintendent of Texarkana ISD.
Texarkana ISD is one of 200 communities from 10 states, two Canadian provinces, Ukraine, Brazil, and Portugal, participating in this year’s SSEP program. The program allows students to design and propose actual microgravity experiments conducted aboard the International Space Station.

Following the December announcement and under SSEP guidelines, the TMS students will continue to refine and optimize their experiment’s design to be cleared for the mission.
About the SSEP:

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program [or SSEP] 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 works with NASA under a Space Act Agreement to utilize the International Space Station as a National Laboratory.

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