SpaceX Dragon to carry 23 student experiments to space station

Twenty-three microgravity experiments designed by students will be launched to the International Space Station aboard the SpaceX's Dragon capsule, the first commercially developed and built American spacecraft to fly a resupply cargo mission to the station, U.S. space agency NASA announced Wednesday. Twelve of the Student Spaceflight Experiment Program (SSEP) experiments are getting a second flight opportunity. They were delivered to the space station on a SpaceX demonstration mission in May, but were not completed. The other 11 experiments are new. Each experiment will study the effects of microgravity on physical, chemical and biological systems. The students have been immersed in every facet of research, from defining investigations to designing experiments, writing proposals, and submitting to a formal NASA review for selection of flight experiments. The 23 experiments represent more than 7,000 students and almost 2,000 proposals. Dragon is scheduled to fly to the space station on Sunday. It will be the first of 12 contracted flights by SpaceX to resupply the space station.