Distance Learning

MCC students to compete for International Space Station research opportunity

OMAHA (Sept. 5, 2025) — Up to 30 Metropolitan Community College (MCC) students will have the opportunity to participate in the ultimate distance learning project this fall. Through a partnership with the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESS), teams of MCC students will design and propose spaceflight experiments, with one MCC project selected for testing by astronauts on the International Space Station.

The nine-week flight experiment design competition is available to MCC students through a partnership with the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education’s Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Registration is open to all MCC students, including high school students participating in MCC dual enrollment programs.

Openings are available now for students who are interested in participating, with experiment proposals due Nov. 4. Guided by MCC faculty and staff mentors, student teams can design and propose microgravity experiments in fields such as seed germination, crystal growth, cell biology, food studies and more.

The MCC team whose project is selected will earn an all-expense-paid trip to the launch at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in summer 2026. The winning experiment will be delivered to the International Space Station via a SpaceX flight for testing in low orbit.

“It’s a unique STEM learning opportunity for our students — it’s not every day that they get the chance to team with astronauts as their lab partners,” said Cathy Brunkhorst, MCC dean of transfer. “We’re excited for our students to contribute to a national project while developing their research, experiment design and proposal writing skills.”

Students interested in participating can email LaunchToLearn@mccneb.edu for more details and to register.