Worms, vials of bacteria, a horde of ladybugs and even a few grinning Lego Minifigures were lost Sunday after a cargo shipment headed to the International Space Station exploded just after launch.
The items — all sent from Colorado schools — were elements of student experiments headed to space via programs funded by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, and the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, or NCESSE.
Several students from Lafayette’s Centaurus High School were at Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday to watch their experiment — studying the effect of simulated gravity on bacteria — head to the stars on the Commercial Resupply Services 7 mission.
“We were all looking at the screen and it wasn’t showing the rocket anymore, and then we heard the announcer say it looks like the vehicle disintegrated,” said Karl Painter, a rising senior at Centaurus. “Everyone’s face just turned to pure disappointment. We weren’t mad or upset at anyone, but we were very upset that we didn’t make it up to the station.”
Students from Bell Middle School in Golden had sent an experiment testing worm composting in space, and young scholars from Chatfield Senior High School were hoping to find out how well algae can produce hydrogen — a potential source of rocket fuel — while in orbit.
All three experiments were sent through CASIS, which provided $10,000 grants to help cover costs.
Centaurus students, who sent Lego minifigures designed to look like team members along with the experiment, toiled on their project for about 15 months.
Their science had the potential to impact future deep-space travel; a better understanding of how bacteria grow and change differently in space than on Earth is integral for mission safety.
Among the lessons learned Sunday? Science can be risky business.
“A lot of us were disappointed, but we all looked at it with a silver lining — now we have a chance to go back and redesign things and make it better,” an upbeat Painter said. “This is speculation, but if they can fit the student projects on another rocket, then we might get to be sent to space.”
Engineers at Littleton-based Oakman Aerospace Inc. mentored the Chatfield engineering students for more than a year with everything from design reviews to helping to write the initial project proposal.
Oakman president Stanley Kennedy Jr. said the process of developing the experiment was just as educational as the end result.
“The experiment and lessons learned were extremely important,” he said. “I sure wish we would have had these types of projects when I was going to high school. There’s a ton of interest in the Front Range as a whole in terms of reaching out and engaging the next generation of space enthusiasts.”
Three fifth-graders from Littleton’s Mount Carbon Elementary School sent ladybugs to space through NCESSE’s program, hoping to see how microgravity would affect the life cycle of a ladybug — information that could later be used for pest control while growing food in space.
The team met Sunday morning to watch the flight.
“Their emotions ran from ‘I don’t want to do this again’ to ‘this is not fair!’ ” said Bill Schmidt, a technical education teacher at Dakota Ridge High School who helped facilitate the students’ experiment.
That sentiment was echoed by Bell Middle School students, said science teacher Shanna Atzmiller. Atzmiller and eight of her students attended the SpaceX rocket launch at Cape Canaveral.
They took a selfie about 20 seconds into the launch.
“Essentially what we were watching was the rocket blowing up,” she said. “We didn’t know (there was a rocket failure) until we went into the briefing room. Once we found that out, it was shock and devastation.”
Even though developing the experiment was a long process, she said if they are offered the chance, the students are ready to jump right in and do it again.
Another four CASIS student experiments, all from Texas, were making a second attempt to reach the space station. Their first attempt was lost in Virginia in October, when an Orbital Antares rocket exploded shortly after liftoff.
It is too early to know if the lost experiments will be relaunched on future space station supply missions, CASIS spokesman Patrick O’Neill said, adding that the decision depends on the timeliness of launches, space availability and other variables.
“Obviously, this is something that’s high priority for us,” O’Neill said. “We definitely want to do right by the students involved.”
O’Neill said the Texas schools’ grants were re-upped after the Antares disaster.
Painter said the Centaurus team has all its data, 3-D modeling, research and even some extra bacteria at its disposal.
And, with the exception of a couple of expensive parts purchased with the CASIS money, he believes the team could have a replacement ready in as soon as a month.
Still, Painter said he regrets nothing.
“The experience outweighs the outcome. Even if it had the same outcome, I’d do it all over again,” Painter said. “We were so pumped to build something that was going into space and get to expand our limits to above the sky. … Every little step along the way was worth it, even though we lost it in the end.”
Laura Keeney: 303-954-1337, lkeeney@denverpost.com or twitter.com/LauraKeeney
