Dos Rios Elementary School in Tolleson will participate in the upcoming Student Spaceflight Experiments Program Mission 18 to the International Space Station.

Union Elementary School District received approval from the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, making the district one of 38 communities from the United States, Canada and Ukraine, and one of two communities from Arizona, to participate in this special opportunity.

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program allows students to design and propose microgravity experiments to be flown in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station, a press release explains. The student-designed experiments will adhere to real-world engineering and technology constraints imposed by the flight-certified mini-lab, as well as the operational requirements of spaceflight to and from low Earth orbit.

One experiment from each community will be chosen to fly to the ISS on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida in the spring or summer of 2024. Astronauts aboard the ISS will operate the experiment for four to six weeks before it is returned to Earth and delivered to the school’s student flight team for analysis.

“Our students are excited to challenge themselves to send their projects into space,” Dos Rios eighth-grade teacher Dr. Saima Afroze stated. “It is great for our students to know their work has an impact outside the classroom.”

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program is part of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education in the U.S. and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a partnership with Nanoracks LLC, which is working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the use of the International Space Station as national laboratory.

Dos Rios Elementary School is located 2150 S. 87th Ave., in Tolleson.