A group of fifth graders from Kauaʻi sent their research project to the International Space Station on November 26. Space Team Kō from Alakaʻi O Kauaʻi Charter School is one of five student groups from around the country who were selected to send their experiments for the DreamUp to Space program.
The school reviewed project submissions from Kindergarten through sixth grade and finally selected team Kō’s idea to send sugar cane seeds to space. The team picked sugar canes because it’s a relative of bamboo, the fastest growing grass and it has a bunch of health benefits. The hypothesis that they are testing is that sugar cane seeds will grow slower in space than on Earth. The three members of Team Kō traveled to Florida to watch their project launch into outer space.
DreamUp to Space is a program in which learners develop an experiment that will be conducted by astronauts on the International Space Station. Learners work alongside researchers and eventually, they will present their research at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida and watch their experiment launch to the ISS! Here is a video that describes these missions and an article that tells you more about this program: “Inspiring the Next Generation Through Student Payloads Flying on SpaceX CRS-26.”