Ann Marie Trotta
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1601
ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov

Sandra Nagy
Glenn Research Center, Cleveland
216-433-9079
sandra.l.nagy@nasa.gov


RELEASE: 11-017

NASA INVITES STUDENTS TO SEND EXPERIMENTS TO THE EDGE OF SPACE

CLEVELAND -- NASA is inviting student teams to design and build
experiments the agency will fly into the stratosphere, a near-space
environment, more than 100,000 feet above the Earth.

NASA's second annual Balloonsat High-Altitude Flight competition is
open to student teams in ninth to 12th grades from the United States
and its territories. Each team of four or more students must submit
an experiment proposal to NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland
by Feb. 11. Student teams may propose experiments on a wide range of
topics, from bacteria studies to weather observations.

A panel of NASA engineers and scientists will evaluate the submissions
based on mission objectives, technical planning and team
organization. The top eight proposals will be announced on March 4.

The top four teams will receive up to $1,000 to develop their flight
experiments and travel to Glenn Research Center May 18-20. During
their visit, they will have an opportunity to tour the center, watch
as NASA helium weather balloons carry their experiments to the edge
of space, recover the experiments and present their results at
Glenn's Balloonsat Symposium.

The other four teams also will receive up to $1,000 to develop their
flight experiments and will participate via the Internet when NASA
scientists and engineers launch and recover their payloads during the
week of May 23.

For more Balloonsat information, registration forms and project ideas,
visit:



http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/balloonsat


This competition and similar educational programs help NASA attract
and retain students in the areas of science, technology, engineering
and mathematics. These disciplines are critical to the agency's
future programs and missions.

The Balloonsat High-Altitude Flight competition is sponsored by
Glenn's Educational Programs Office and is funded by the Teaching
From Space (TFS) Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
For information about the TFS education program, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/education/tfs


For information about the Glenn Research Center, visit:



http://www.nasa.gov/glenn