Teachers In Space

Two sources are offering teachers free seeds that have flown in space for classroom use. The NASA Engineering Design Challenge is offering cinnamon basil seeds to the first 100,000 takers. NASA wants students from elementary to high-school level to design, build, and test lunar plant growth chambers using the seeds, which flew aboard the International Space Station and Space Shuttle flight STS-118. Sign up here. Epsori Space Systems is offering a mix of seeds that have flown in space, including alfalfa, radish, and the dreaded broccolli. Teachers can sign up here. Below, basil seeds are exposed to space on the Materials on ISS-3 experiment.

The Northrop Grumman Foundation is continuing its successful program of microgravity aircraft flights for teachers. Together with Zero Gravity Corporation, Northrop Grumman flew 248 teachers on 12 flights in 2006. In 2007, they have 16 flights scheduled.

The program is open to accredited middle-school math and science teachers and to college education majors at universities near the locations where flights take place: Bethpage, New York; Baltimore, Maryland; Colorado Springs, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; Los Angeles, California, Newport News, Virginia; New Orleans, Louisiana, and Washington, DC.

The program is still taking applications for two flights out of Newport News. All other flights are full for this year. For more details or to apply, see Northrop Grumman’s Weightless Flights of Discovery pages.