This year, the student teams fly in two groups. The first flew in March. Each parabola offers the students and their experiments 25 to 30 seconds of zero gravity as they go over the top. The KC-135A is used to train astronauts, test hardware and experiments destined for spaceflight, and evaluate medical protocols that may be used in space. Professional journalists will fly with many of the teams to report on their activities.
Students spend months identifying, developing and testing their experiments.
NASA experts critique them for scientific merit. Each experiment is subject to an extensive safety review. During the first week of their two weeks in Houston students receive preflight training, and assemble and test their experiments. During week two students fly with their experiments and conduct post-flight debriefings and reviews. Each team also is required to develop a program for sharing the results of its experiment with teachers, students and the public after the flights.