AIAA-sponsored High School Students’ Experiment Launched to Space by Blue Origin New Shepherd Rocket Written 11 December 2019
CONTACT: Michele McDonald
703.264.7542
michelem@aiaa.org
December 11, 2019 – Reston, Va. – Three high school students from the Seattle area will experience what most people only dream of—to have their experiment launched into space Wednesday at 12:55 p.m. EST as part of the Blue Origin New Shepherd payload.
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) sponsored Go For Launch! Seattle 2019 Full STEAM Ahead, a science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) education program created by nonprofit Higher Orbits, and held in January at The Museum of Flight in Seattle, Washington. The Higher Orbits program gives high school students the opportunity to work with astronauts and scientists to develop STEM or STEAM projects that are launched to suborbital space or conducted on the International Space Station.
Team Northern Lights members Madelyn Heaston (10th grade), Katja Kirchner (11th grade), and Aliah Haigh (11th grade) won Go For Launch! Seattle 2019 and their art-based research project will be conducted in microgravity. Heaston and Kirchner attend Heritage Homeschool Co-op and Haigh is part of the a “running start” program at Bellevue College.
“The goal of this experiment is to determine microgravity's effect on creating art,” Haigh said. “It will test how the paint spreads onto the canvas as well as how the three different colors mix. It will also be interesting to see how the flight back to Earth will affect the art.”
Dan Dumbacher, AIAA executive director, said “supporting students is a mission priority for AIAA. These students are showing how creative space research can be. I hope they inspire students around the world to launch their own research projects or find new ways to be part of the amazing space community. Congratulations to Aliah, Madelyn, and Katja!”
Named after Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard, the first American to go to space, New Shepard is the Blue Origin reusable suborbital rocket system designed to take astronauts and research payloads past the Kármán line – the internationally recognized boundary of space. The 11-minute flight of Team Northern Lights’ experiment on New Shepard will be the experience of a lifetime for these high school students. The New Shepard P9 flight will provide about 3 minutes of high-quality microgravity to conduct the art-based experiment.
“We are honored to have the continued partnership of AIAA and Blue Origin in our mission to inspire the next generation of innovative and creative STEAMists and Explorers — our future workforce,” said Michelle Lucas, Higher Orbits founder. “Space inspires! Through the generous and continued support of our mission partners like AIAA, The Museum of Flight, and Blue Origin, we are able to bring our life-changing Go For Launch! spaceflight STEAM experience to students throughout the United States.”
About Higher Orbits
Higher Orbits is a 501(c)3 non-profit that uses spaceflight to promote science, technology, engineering, art and math while strengthening leadership, teamwork, and communication skills. Higher Orbits conducts Go For Launch! and Go For Launch! Full STEAM Ahead events across the country and partners with companies and organizations to achieve educational goals that launch the next generation of scientists, researchers and creators. To learn more about 2020’s events and inspire the next generation of STEMists, STEAMists and explorers, visit HigherOrbits.org.
About AIAA
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 85 countries, and 95 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn.
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American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
12700 Sunrise Valley Drive, Suite 200, Reston, VA 20191-5807
Phone: 703.264.7558 Fax: 703.264.7551 www.aiaa.org