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Student-designed experiment from ECISD to launch Thursday night from SpaceX CRS-29 rocket

The Student Spaceflight Experiment Program Mission 17 and Mission Patches to be sent off to space at 7:28 p.m. from Florida.

MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. — Ector County ISD will get to see the launch of the SpaceX CRS-29 rocket that is carrying a student-designed experiment from the STEM Academy's Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) and Mission Patches Thursday night.

SSEP's Mission 17 experiment and mission patch art from Buice Elementary and Wilson & Young Middle School is scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Nov. 9 at 7:28 p.m. CST.

"The winning experiment designed by the STEM Academy team will determine if a fungus, Pestalotiopsis microspora, can survive and reproduce in the microgravity environment on the International Space Station (ISS)," ECISD said in a press release. "The fungus could be used in space to decompose plastic waste; the decomposed plastic then becomes an organic material that astronauts could grow plants in for food. Astronauts on the ISS will conduct the experiment in space, while at the same time the students are performing the experiment here on Earth for comparison."

The students' artwork was selected from thousands of entries from all across ECISD.

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