By Kelly Taylor
WKTV Program Manager
The Space X CRS-3 Dragon cargo craft will be carrying some very special supplies to the International Space Station this Saturday — experiments, essays and art from Girl Scouts.
The inaugural “Making Space for Girls Challenge” was a science competition presented by SpaceKids Global, a Florida-based, non-profit established to use space exploration to engage children in STEAM learning.
The call was put out through all of the Girl Scouts 111 councils with girls from 95 councils participating in three designated categories — science experiment, essays, and art. The competition has nearly 700 entries from across the country, as well as entries from Japan and Germany.
Some of the experiments include sending ants to space to see if they will still tunnel and build hills, while another looks at living micro-organisms processing carbon dioxide and waste on the International Space Station.
The Girl Scouts’ projects are part of several other new science experiments that will utilize a new research facility on board to study plants, ants, and brim shrimp in microgravity.
Live coverage of the launch will start at 3:15 a.m. with the launch scheduled for 3:37 p.m. on Saturday. The coverage continues on Sunday at 9:30 a.m. for the rendezvous and docking of the cargo craft to the ISS. the docking is scheduled to take place at 11 a.m.
NASA TV can be seen on WKTV 26 Government Channel on Comcast and AT&T U-verse 99 Government Channel 99. For more information on NASA or the International Space Station, visit www.nasa.gov.
