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Walter R. Sundling Students to Participate in NASA Experiment
Eighth-grade gifted/talented students from Walter R. Sundling Junior High will create solutions which will be used to grow crystals on the Space Shuttle during a special science lab from 8 to 10 a.m. Wednesday, December 5, at the school, 1100 N. Smith St., Palatine.
Two National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) payload specialists from the Marshall Space Center in Huntsville, Ala., will be at the school to supervise the experiment and take the resulting crystalline solutions back to the space center. Also on hand will be Mike Kersjes, president of the Space Is Special Foundation, an organization that has created a partnership with the U.S. Space Camp to offer programs and opportunities for special needs students.
"Experiments that involve growing crystals in zero gravity environment are done on almost every Space Shuttle mission," explained Kevin Keehn, science teacher at Sundling. "NASA is getting students involved by allowing them to create the solutions used to grow the crystals." The project, coordinated by the University of California-Irvine, is actually designed for high school students. This will be the first time junior high students have been allowed to participate.
The Sundling students are doing their own research and conducting experiments with different salt concentrations to determine the best solution for growing the crystals. On December 5, they will mix the appropriate chemicals to create the optimal solution, which will then will be flash-frozen using liquid nitrogen.
The Sundling-created solution is expected to be aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis, now scheduled for a March 24, 2002 launch. In space, the solution will be thawed and used to grow crystals in zero gravity. The completed crystals will be brought back to Earth to be used in research and to create specialized drugs to treat a variety of diseases including cystic fibrosis, AIDs, sickle cell anemia, and others.
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