Lettuce Germination Experiment
My Lettuce Germination project was one of the best experiences of my life. The experiment started in october of 2013. A district wide project was assigned to create a proposal of a space experiment. The winning experiment would be tested in space. The basic idea of our experiment was to see if lettuce will germinate in space conditions. To make sure the plants would not become mushy after the experiment, we added rubbing alcohol to stop the decaying after the growth. We finished our proposal in January and we got an announcement in March. This announcement said, “Congratulations, your SSEP experiment project has been selected to compete with Projects from the Middle School and High school for the opportunity to see your project be launched into space and conducted in the International Space Station.” I was in fifth grade at the time. One project was picked from Cottage Lane, one from the Middle School, and one from the High School. The Middle School project was an experiment of corroded metal in space, and the High School project was mainly about glow sticks in space conditions. All three projects and proposal creators would be interviewed on a local radio station. After three months of adding and critiquing our proposal, another announcement was sent to me. This announcement read, “Congratulations, your SSEP experiment as been chosen as the best of the district and will be showcased at the Smithsonian Space Museum in July of 2014 and launched in the Wallops Island Spaceflight Station one week later.” After this announcement, an assembly was held to the whole grade that explained our project as well as Ellen Jaffee, a New York State Assemblywoman and the woman who funded our lettuce experiment. After our experiment launched, I felt achieved and happy that my project was chosen and how much work I put into the proposal to make it as detailed as I could.