Stockton Spaceflight Experiments Program

This fall I participated in the Stockton Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). This is not a one day event, but took place over several weeks. Once a part of the program, you can work alone or team up with other students and develop a research proposal to send an experiment of your own design up to the International Space Station. The program is a competition against other teams from Stockton, and once the time is complete, the proposals are collected and three semifinalists are sent to Washington DC for further critique. If then chosen against dozens of other experiment proposals from across the country, you’ll actually get the opportunity to build and send your experiment to space.

This program is definitely not for those who don’t have a passion for science and space, but if you do it is a fun, challenging way to get involved in the research process. You get thrown right into the mix, but if you choose not to take the program for credits, you aren’t even going to receive a grade for it. You can do it for fun, and do it more than once as well. It is a rewarding experience that gives you hands on knowledge in the world of science and research, and bragging rights to say that you had an experiment that was sent to outer space isn’t too bad either.

The program was a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well. I recommend it to anybody who has an interest in the sciences and space research projects. You learn a lot and get to work in groups with people and a mentor professor, and it’s a competitive environment where you have to not only beat the other teams, but beat the clock and make sure everything gets done right and on time. I would definitely recommend trying it next fall, make sure to look for flyers in the USC in September.