Project MISSE
Mills Lawn in Space!

The laser communication device created during the Laser Residency with Dr. Grote, from the Air Force Research Laboratory at WPAFB, was selected by NASA to become part of Project MISSE.  This project placed self-contained experiments aboard shuttle missions and the International Space Station.  Mills Lawn Elementary has three experiments in this program: 

Up and Down - One laser traveled to ISS on the shuttle and returned to earth on the same mission

1 Year - One laser sent  to ISS will sit exposed to the environment for one year

3 Year - One laser sent to ISS will sit exposed to the environment for three years

The students at Mills Lawn will monitor control lasers over this three year period.  They will gather data on the effect the space environment has on the degradation of the laser's power output as each laser returns to Earth.  They will provide NASA with a culminating report in three and a half years.  Students are following the construction of ISS and monitoring the progress of international teamwork.

Our experiments traveled to ISS on the August 10, 2001, 5:10 P.M., with shuttle launch, STS-105.  A contingent of Mills Lawn students, parents, and teachers traveled to the Kennedy Space Center to watch their experiment blast off into space.