"The essential question driving experiment design:

In short, a group of MTC students will compete in small teams to propose an experiment that will fly to and be operated on the International Space Station in or around Summer 2024.  The team whose experiment is selected for flight will have the opportunity to attend the launch at Cape Canaveral and attend a post-missions conference at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.  

The mission of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program at Midlands Technical College is to provide an opportunity for ALL MTC students to have the opportunity to engage in a community-sourced, STEAM-driven, research design process to explore their world and their place in it.  The pedagogical outlook of the SSEP's host agency (NCESSE) is that "we believe that learners must see themselves in the stories we tell, and experience scientific exploration through their own involvement."

Throughout the next year to 18 months, the Midlands Tech community will source experimental design proposals from the student body and select one experiment that will be sent to the International Space Station to be conducted by the astronauts on board and returned for analysis.  

Additionally, a commemorative Mission Patch will be competitively sourced from both the MTC and surrounding K12 communities.  Copies of these patch designs will fly with the experiment to the ISS and will be used to represent the public-facing aspects of the mission throughout the flight prep and execution phases of the mission.