Recent Stamford High School graduates, Lizet Garcia and Rithin Armstrong, developed an experiment that is scheduled to launch to the International Space Station Thursday, June 3 as part of Mission 14 to the ISS. 

The Covid-19 lockdown delayed the initial launch, “The students worked hard even during the lockdown and were able to complete the experiment, ” says science teacher, Susan Dougherty.

 The experiment will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Stamford High School got in contact with NASA through Susan Dougherty, a science teacher, who applied to NASA’s annual teacher team with over 3,000 applicants applied, 20 were interviewed and only 10 became part of the climate research team.

The development is designed to observe how cancer cells behave in space. Galloflavin has proven to help grow endometrial cancer cells, but not much is known about cancer cells operating in microgravity, the experiment is to observe how amino acids are produced in gravity deficient environments. Dougherty believes “It could lead to a potential cure to cancer.”

Weather permitting, the launch can be viewed live at noon here.